Sega, Xbox, Steam - and functionally speaking, even Sony all default to a face button scheme with the action/enter/accept button on the bottom, and cancel/back on the right. Nintendo’s control scheme is really the primary thing that throws a wrench in retro handheld setups. It’s also just a bad layout. X on top? What is that nonsense?


Hard disagree, most people play Nintendo games on retro handhelds. Retro handhelds usually emulate PS1, which also mostly had circle to accept and X to cancel (and still does in Japan). Nobody is emulating xbox games. Following what most people are playing is the right choice, and that’s usually NES/SNES/N64/GBA.
This right here. Nintendo is Japanese, It’s the Japanese layout, just like Sony uses.