I do, and it still works perfectly.
Don't worry about the peripherals. It's just stupid thinking on your own part and not enough thought actually put into it. In any case where a special controller is involved, I seem to remember them saying that the pricing scheme would be that the controller add-on for the game would be packaged in with the game and that it'd be $5 more than the norm.
Also, the controllers aren't expensive. You aren't supposed to buy four so people can all come and use yours. Your friends are supposed to have them too (haha, not in a lot of cases I'm guessing) since the controllers themselves hold personal data like your Mii. Still, think about the technology you're using. It's all in the controller. The PS3's SIXAXIS controller is $50 and it doesn't even have rumble (because they said they were trying to cut costs on the controller hahaha). It's really not that bad.
As for controller cleanings, the N64 is the only Nintendo thing I've ever had problems with. The controllers just died quickly. My launch day GC stuff is still basically mint and I play it quite a bit even now.
For the most part, I'm seeing "jaded" gamers trying their best to come up with lame excuses for why they think everything will be bad. The phrase "fed up" with the regular controller just makes me shake my head. That's honestly a pretty lame statement to make, considering the controller was created to be reconfigurable right off the bat. You don't get "fed up" with that idea, you get creative.
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