Chances are the only reason they appeared in NES Remix as an important game in that game, was because of Smash. Without Smash, they might have gotten in NES Remix, but more like Pinball and only have like 5 challenges.
Ice Climbers isn't really... good. Or memorable. The controls are slippery and frustrating and the game is fairly repetitive.
ROB is still entirely relevant. He makes cameos all the time. He was even a playable racer in Mario Kart.
Game and Watch too. He makes some cameos and the Game and Watch Gallery series and the collections and replicas Club Nintendo has put out.
Pit was probably the next best bet for a series like this, but even so, IC are quite a bit older than Kid Icarus is as a series, and KI had 2 games before Uprising. And KI was a good game.