That's one good thing about Smash: It introduces many characters to players that don't know from where they are, pushing the interest of those to play their series. Best example of this was me and Fire Emblem, I've never played a Fire Emblem before, but after Melee (which I played in like 2007, yes I was really late), I went to play Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn. That could also apply to Zelda, though I played Ocarina of Time, I wasn't too interested on it, but after playing Melee, I went on my way to play games like Majora's Mask, Wind Waker, A Link to the Past, and enjoyed the hell out of them, specially Majora's Mask, I loved that game.

It still must be pretty weird for a kid playing the game for the first time and only recognizing the Mario, Pokémon, and maybe the third party characters, and having a bunch of other people he/she never heard about before.