Well, whenever I was not using it I always put it on the dock-glorified charger that came with the console. So never (or rarely) had that problem at all.

Yeah that would have been helpful. The dock only came with the deluxe model though and I had the basic model. As an Adult I would have just bought a cradle for it afterwards like I have for my PS5 controller to sort that low battery life problem. But as I was a child I just got annoyed at it and it dissuaded me from bothering to play it.

Man, the basic model was such a bad deal from Nintendo. 8 GB of storage (3 of effective use after apps and updates, lol), no Nintendo Land, no stand for the Gamepad and no Wii Sensor Bar

For a $50 discount it wasn't worth it to go for the basic. But eventually it became so cheap at retailers. I got my WiiU in 2014, imported from one of the European amazon sites to the UK for about 160EUR. It was the Wii Party U bundle and I think they chucked in Nintendo Land too.

Yep the majority of the time the gamepad sat on that dock (plugged in) on the coffee table within arms reach between me and the TV while I played with the Pro controller from the couch. 

N64 believe it or not.

I'm looking at this 'relatively' though, I haven't actually used an N64 controller for so long that I wouldn't know what I would feel if I used an N64 controller and a Switch controller today. All I know is what my level of satisfaction of each controller was when they were relevant, and I know the N64 controller was great at the time while I usually had something to moan about with the others. Though, Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time being tailor made for the functionalities of the controller, or the other way around actually, probably helped a great deal.

Switch Pro is my runner up; it's comfortable, and its inclusion of a gyroscope sidesteps the issue of analog sticks not being great for aiming.
A split version of this with a pointer would be my dream controller.