This website contains age-restricted materials including nudity and explicit depictions of sexual activity.
By entering, you affirm that you are at least 18 years of age or the age of majority in the jurisdiction you are accessing the website from and you consent to viewing sexually explicit content.
Maybe you’re right on the Japan thing, I always thought it was about distance from your thumb. Like A is closest and most common, then B, and some games mostly only use those, and then X, Y, and Z are for menus or less common actions, and of them, x is closest to your thumb. Makes more sense on an N64 controller or GameCube controller, and then the switch controller is just keeping the letters as consistent as possible.