I don't find that layout so weird
It will be a reversal of the one that I use which is
BCD
A
I found weirder this one
ABC
D
But I know that in some countries that's the layout which is used, and hell, the other day I found an arcade in an alley with 98 and that was the layout
And about the news, we received and Arcade version of XII, but was quickly retired. the game hada little span of like KOF MI Regulation A and Battle Fantasia, hell, this arcade here is weird they had the privilege to just screw 4 cabs with gundam VS. I know that if japaneses knew of an arcade which had gundam vs for just a month they will come just to destroy it
Still, poor XII, the game is fun for me but I understand all the faults that had, and it will be hard to create a competitive scene with it