The NES gamepad is the perfect gamepad. All gamepads are descendants of it. What you just said is blasphemy. The rectangular shape will only bother you if you have some kind of death grip on the gamepad, in which case you are doing it wrong... it lies in your cupped hands while you press buttons... you don't grip it.
The best games of the system didn't make it to the snes. Their sequels did. For the most part, the originals were better. SMB 3 is better than SMW. The nes mega mans are better than mmx. You know that open-world, no rules Zelda that just came out where you could got anywhere and do anything in virtually any order? That is what the original LOZ is like... LTTP and subsequent sequels became increasingly linear. I think Castlevania IV might be better than the originals, but it's really just a 16 bit remake of the first game. I think it's a solid argument than Super Metroid is better than the original, but then again, much like Zelda, the lack of a map and explicit instructions or directions made the original more fun imho.
And you say you want quality over quantity, well so do I, and that's why the NES is better. SMW, Super Metroid, and LTTP are quality games..... and.... yeah that's about it. The rest are excellent arcade ports, games that have since been surpassed by more modern sequels, or games that really don't live up to their sequels and/or have an equally good nes game in their anthology. Doesn't matter anyway as Nintendo would only include ~30 games.
I played the snes longer and I had a ton of fun with it, but looking back, aside from Super Mario World and a few oddball gems like that it was mostly a machine for me to play Street Fighter II and Mortal Kombat II with my friends. I play those on MAME now. Looking back at the NES, after rental shops went into full swing were were playing at least one new game a week for about 8 years! Some of them were crap sure, but the bulk were really good and it was exciting to see what each game was like because they were all so different.
Also you've got to understand that these sorts of products are not for us, they are for the casuals. Sure having played LTTP and LOZ multiple times over the years you might prefer LTTP, but they person who has never played either, or hasn't played them in 25 years, they might get more enjoyment out of the original due to the harder challenge.
Anyway the discussion is rather pointless, I'll be just as excited about the SNES classic as you guys.