This is a short, simple rant:
Nintendo was the first major home console to feature shoulder buttons on their controllers.
Nintendo's shoulder buttons are the worst, consistently, ever made.
Cases:
Two of my SNES controllers have either partially- or completely non-functional shoulder buttons (one also has a faulty D-Pad)
N64: They work. But they're never used, so that's to be expected.
GBA SP: R-button worked only if about 500 pounds of pressure is exerted upon it. Eventually replaced unit.
Nintendo DS Lite: BOTH shoulder buttons completely stopped functioning, after less than 12 months! Replaced unit with second DS Lite... and this one has a bad L-Button!
GameCube: Just today, while replaying MP, my R-Button crapped out. It senses partial pressure only when I press fully on it. Full pressure is not sensed at all.
By comparison, I have 8 total controllers between my Playstations and Dreamcast. Not ONE of them has EVER seen a shoulder button failure, and I use them all pretty well equally.
This just frustrates the hell out of me, especially with the handhelds. I can stomach paying $20 for a new controller, but replacing a DS or SP is not cheap at all.
My SNES shoulder buttons are sometimes unresponsive, but I've never had an issue with any other shoulder buttons on any Nintendo controllers. That's all really odd. My Gamecube shoulder buttons in particular are still working extremely well, and they'd be especially worn out by now with all the smash brotherin' I do (and I still use that controller in Brawl).
Besides the SNES controller I haven't had an issue with shoulder buttons on any console, but my SNES controllers were pretty much totally dead so it wasn't just the shoulder buttons. I haven't really noticed a lower quality in Nintendo's buttons compared to the other consoles.
I found out last night that DS-Lite shoulder buttons are susceptible to dust collecting under the shoulder buttons, and this can be removed simply by forming a seal with your lips around the buttons and blowing. Amazingly, now both of my DS-Lites work just fine, and that's a great relief.
My point still stands, though, for the others.
Yeah, my GBA and DS shoulder buttons get sticky and unresponsive sometimes (pushing them in and pulling them out will fix it, generally), but overall I don't think I'd agree. I've had no problems with my SNES controllers (the only one that did have problems was a third party controller that died completely, it wasn't just the shoulder buttons), my N64 controllers' shoulder buttons are all perfect (and yes, they do get used sometimes, they just are quite well designed, clearly), and of my GC controllers... well, again, the only controller with problems is the one that died completely (official, power problems, etc).
I've never had my DS or GBA SP buttons stick on me. Then again, I put them away in the same safe spot every single time, so they aren't sitting around where they might get gunked up.
The original GBA is a bit more susceptible than the DS, I think...
Yeah, the right shoulder button to my GBA: SP is completely non-functional now. It used to be an issue of putting more pressure on it, but in the past year or so even that hasn't worked. Very frustrating, especially if you're trying to launch missiles in Metroid Fusion or use the extra action button in Castlevania. I haven't gotten around to replacing it yet. I'd estimate it was 2-3 years before it happened.
Unlike the Gameboy I broke when I was a kid by getting angry and head-butting the screen, I wasn't rough with this one. It took all the normal wear and tear of a portable system, I'd say. I suppose it could be cleaned (or have been cleaned; it went missing 3 months back), but I don't have the proper tools to dissemble it.
The special screws are available somewheres online... I forget where, but they are cheap. The way it works, if it's like the original GBA (and pretty much all controllers I've ever dismantelled) is a little piece of rubber shaped like a suction cup (minus suction) with a conductive part on the inside roof makes contact with two points when pressed "in". That could need cleaning, or the rubber is worn out, or perhaps it's been pushed out of place. Use some very light cleaner (nothing corrosive) and it should be fine if that's the issue.
Metroid Fusion's got the most awkward way of launching missiles. Japan is SO weird for calling that a "challenge mode" in their control systems by the way. I'm not sure I see how that's a challenge beyond hurting my fingers from holding down the button instead of "toggling" the button.
The z-button on my N64 controllers broke all the time.
The only thing I've ever had go wrong with an N64 controller is analog stick wear. And I've used my N64 controllers a lot, more than any of my other console gamepads (except probably the Game Boys).
...well okay, for some reason there's some weird problem in Smash Bros. where player 4's analog stick doesn't respond right, but that's game-specific, not general to the console.
Sometimes I get this image of someone who presses buttons by holding out a finger and running FULL SPEED into the controller.