I don't understand how Dolphin eliminates the need for the Wiimote.

Though you can also just hook up a Wii Remote if that's what gets your jollies off!

-For starters, they run on AA batteries, so that means more wasted money for several years. Moreso when you remember how thirsty the Wiimote gets, and how it actually drains battery life while idle (or off!).

As everyone has already mentioned, rechargeable batteries are the way to go. I got myself the Nyko Charge Station back in 2007, and it's worked like a charm ever since. I haven't had to buy/replace my Wiimote batteries this entire generation. Check it out!

-There's no on/off switch, so even just picking an episode of something on Netflix, it sits there all blue and on, wasting away battery after battery while you watch the latest Parks and Recreation.

Again, thanks to rechargeable batteries, this issue is mitigated.

-Sometimes it just won't work period. It'll have been calibrated and working fine for weeks on your same Wii, then suddenly decide to go into a blinking fit when you try to activate it.

This sounds like an issue with your connection settings on your Wii. Do you often switch Wiimotes with your console? Use your friend's controllers when they stop by? Or... something? I dunno, I calibrated my Wiimotes back in 2007, and I've never had to recalibrate them since.

Am I the exception, or are you?

-You have to turn it on to navigate the menu, even when using other controllers (like the Wavebird for SSB). This probably won't be a problem with the Wii U, but it sure bugs me now.

Well, okay. The Gamecube controller doesn't function with the Wii OS. Is it that big of a deal? All other controllers work with the Wii Menu. For example, the Classic Controller can navigate the Home Menu just fine....

-Third parties feel limited by the WR+Nunchuk NOW, given the lack of an analogue stick. How can we play multiplayer titles that require more buttons on the Wii U? Not everyone's going to want to get 3+ Classic Controllers.

Doesn't the IR kind of replace that second analog stick? In a faster, more intuitive way? Hmm. Admittedly, this wasn't such a big deal on the Wii, since a large majority of the games for this system were exclusive - thus the control schemes were custom-made for these particular titles. But it may become an issue for the Wii U since the (unfortunate, IMO) focus seems to be getting multi-platform games on the Nintendo console. You may have a point here.

-I feel there'll always be an imbalance in multi, with one player getting the stand-out controller.

This is something I agree with you 100%. It's going to be weird when one person has the Wii U Tablet, and everyone else using the Wiimote. Whether or not it becomes unbalanced I suppose will depend on the game, but either way, not everyone is going to be on "even ground" so to speak. Maybe Wii gamers are used that by now though? Many multiplayer games use a large variety of controllers (Brawl and Kart have like, 4 different controller options, and games like Conduit 2 and Goldeneye have at least two). Again, hopefully exclusive games will be able to balance it out properly, but if lazy (IMO) ports of current-gen games is what the Wii U is going to be getting, it *could* end up being a problem.