[kadoban]

You can indeed reason it out. That doesn't mean it's very good though.

You pretty much have to have a very specific image of a d-pad in mind. It helps that that d-pad is also the one in your hands, but you shouldn't have to look at the controller, or have its detailed look memorized, to figure it out.

[Waterluvian]

Fundamentally the fact that there’s anything to think about is an abject failure of why they put the icons there in the first place.

I think what happened here is obvious: there’s a very longstanding software design pattern that was broken by a perfectly sensible hardware controller design. The solution is likely to just stop using that software pattern. Make analogous icons or whatnot.