Popular podcasts talked endless shit about how Smash is fucked because there's no new Nintendo characters so they had to resort to Robin and Shulk.
I can't imagine Takemaru would be on the same level of "I don't know who that is," it would probably be worse.
I remember hearing about these during prerelease, and my response now is the same as it was then:
If you think that Smash is fucked because Sakurai had to "resort" to Robin and Shulk, then you're a know-nothing fuck who should probably not be hosting a podcast, or at least should not be talking about Smash.
I think now everyone is over their weird little "obscure to me so it's a dumb idea" fits. Smash has a way of endearing people to characters.
This is anecdotal, but my roommate went through this exact cycle. When Robin and Shulk were released, he sorta turned up his nose, but after he started playing them in Smash, he expressed interest in playing both Xenoblade and FE:A because of it (I happen to have both and he's playing Awakening right now and loving it).
Those were at least known worldwide. Can't say the same thing for Takamaru.
I don't know that I would consider the Ice Climbers particularly notable. Sure, their game was released worldwide and Takamaru's wasn't, but there was still a general air of "huh?" when they were announced for Melee. And now look, even though they didn't get a new game out of being in Smash, they as a character still have a following that's much larger than what it was pre-Smash (just look at people upset at them being cut from Smash 4, me included).