What reason could Nintendo have had for putting the A and B buttons in a non-alphabetical order?

When Nintendo brought out it's first game system, the NES, it had a controller with four buttons:

  • Select
  • Start
  • A
  • B

However, somewhere, a designer, in their infinite wisdom, decided that the A and B buttons should not be in alphabetical order. So the B button was placed to the left of the A.

The reasons for this have long puzzled me. Surely the layout is counter-intuitive, and has confused many a gamer.

Can anyone suggest the reason for this design?

NES controller

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