been the odd shape

It always felt very ergonomic to me. Also those things could take a beating and keep on rocking.

the use of just one shoulder bumper

Yeah, that was a weird one. Could be the big N thought that two would be too similar to the Dualshock.

odd choice of the analog controller base which doesn’t allow for perfect circles

See, I miss this. I liked being able to "lock" in a direction and move exactly where I wanted to go- you didn't have to push perfectly accurately on the stick to move in any of the eight compass directions.

Also the nipple analog

Remember, this was a time before the twin-stick FPS formula had been nailed down (c.f. the controls for the original Metroid Prime compared to the Switch remaster) so the C-stick was probably intended to not be used that often- just a logical evolution of the C-Buttons from the N64. Besides, who doesn't love nipples? :-)

Though I will give credit for the triggers. That click was always satisfying.

Yep.

Other than needing a left shoulder bumper (which third-party controllers using this layout for the Switch offer), I think it’s perfect. Massive primary A button with a smaller B next to it and the X/Y buttons on the shoulders of the primary button makes excellent placement to me. It’s extra useful when moving between Xbox and Nintendo since they swap the order of the buttons.