I get what you're saying. Maybe its because my hands are big, but the gamepad feels like the perfect balance of form and functionality. Its the first time in a long time I let my hands spread out, and the grip comes naturally. On the Gamecube, the button placement was awkward, and pressing the Z and R trigger were pretty unnatural to me.

I loved wii classic!nice sensation in hands,handy grips and it was quite shapely!I think my favorite is wii mote but i couldn t use it wellat some games,like smash bros brawl:P

Yeah I'm the same age as you, back then pretty much everyone hated the GameCube controller. It was weird and arbitrarily different. 

I liked the ergonomics, but that was about it. The funny thing is Miyamoto didn't even wanat to have a d-pad on it or the Z-button period, they had to be convinced later on to add those back in, but you can tell they totally half assed it. 

This was the original GCN controller:

Charming to look at maybe, but terrible in practical usage. The "bean shaped" B-button also had to be changed to a more convention round shape because it just didn't work well. 

I don't get the love affair at all. I kinda liked the idea of the digital click on the analog stick, but that was about the only practically novel thing about it. Is there some reason Smash Bros. players can't play the game just as well with a Pro Controller. IMO, the GCN button layout was godawful for fighting games, the traditional SNES X/Y/B/A layout is much better. 

The reason most people swear by the GC controller for Smash Bros is not because it's superior in any way (it isn't) but because that's what they spent so many hours using on Melee so that's what they're used to. It having a wire is fairly important to the competitive people as well. I personally preferred to use the classic controller for Brawl.

I never understood why Nintendo departed from Snes controller, when it was the controller that inspired Dual Shock and Xbox controllers.
Everybody followed the Snes pad ergonomic to develop and improve their controller but Nintendo.

Of course, GameCube!

The love affair is mostly coming from people who were, like I said, kids at the time. I remember playing THPS3 with that thing and trying to use the d-pad to pull of specials was like trying to take a dump while standing on my head. The only good thing about that controller was how it felt in your hand. I really felt Nintendo got THAT aspect right. But the button layout, lack of second analog stick etc. was just, wrong lol.

Coolest- Wii U GamePad
Best- GameCube controller
Most Original- WiiMote
Worst- N64 controller

I was 12 in 2001 but I still remember it being a laughing stock, and as an SNES/N64 kid, I found its entries in Nintendo's key franchises crushingly disappointing.

You could always just adjust your grip on the controller. No reason have such a firm hold on it at all times xD

I personally never had many issues hitting the 2 button during gameplay, I just angled the bottom part of the Wii Remote outward slightly in my hand so the button was more accessible.