I denounce the recency bias. 😝
N64 simple and effective.

GameCube's. Kinda ugly with a poor d-pad. But light and comfortable and just felt really nice overall.

Wii mote and nunchuck. I could lay back with my hands just dropped by my side for the first time playing games and that feeling of comfort is still attached to that controller. The Joy cons are too small and light and symmetrical, doesn't feel the same. VR controllers have the same idea but they are more involved so the feeling isn't there. I just wish all Consoles came with controllers that split into two half pieces, playing Twilight Princess was such a joy.

Wii for me actually.

Not because of the motion control necessarily but for a similar reason as Legit above me. I thought it was comfortable not having to hold your hands together. I could sit on the couch much more openly so to say, scratch my nose without letting go of the controller and stuff like that. It just promoted a much more relaxed way to play. I guess that is ironic in a way.

Shoutout to N64’s as well, it’s layout and way to hold it felt logical and natural to me. The Wiimote and the N64 controller are actually related in my view; you hold and use both in basically the same way, with the Wiimote’s added advantage that both parts are disconnected.

The WiiU Pro controller for me. No stick drift and a fantastic battery life. I also liked all the functionality of the WiiU game pad. That system, like no other, was a source of family fun. Games like Mario Chase and AC: Sweetest Day were only possible on that system where 5 of us could play at once. ZombiiU was also a blast and used the pad really well. For most single player games though the game pad sat in front of me on the table to be a map or whatever while I played with the Pro controller.

The Switch Pro controller was such a let down for me simply due to all the ones I replaced that developed drift. At $70 each it hurt all half a dozen times I had to replace it. The S2 Pro seems to be good so far. I was not going to buy one for myself but got one as a present. It is too early to tell if it will develop drift or not but I sure wish they had gone with Hall Effect thumb sticks .

It's the Switch 2 Pro Controller, even though it's a boring bland design that doesn't even look like a Nintendo controller in design language in a lot of ways.

It's just the most functional/practical and very comfortable to hold.

With the GameCube pad being re-released like I tried using it next to the Pro Controller 2 and it was very quickly a case of "yeah ... nah", lol. The analog triggers are nice and it's still comfy but that awful d-pad, the weird face buttons, the Z trigger, etc. etc. No thanks.

So, three pages of comments and NO ONE has a problem with the Pro Controllers D-Pad? At all?

I don't know if I'm being gaslighten or if it's just a me problem with the controller xD

There were only a handful of 2D fighters on GameCube, Smash being the most prominent.

2D games were quite rare on GameCube, like on N64. Yeah, it would've been nicer for the GameCube to have a better D-Pad. But so few 2D games came anyway and the D-Pad is fine for menu selection, secondary functions and all even if it's not a good D-Pad. 

Everybody's different; it feels fine to me, but then I don't use it all that much as I don't have that many 2D games on Switch 2 yet.

I actually really like the D-Pad of the Pro Controllers. Don't know what the problem should be.