Competitive community goes a long way. That's why there's much more love for Melee than Brawl and even though Brawl sold far more than Melee, there are probably way more people playing the former rather than the latter. Street Fighter X Tekken has a more famous cast than Street Fighter IV and is easier to get into, but that does't make it more popular than SFIV. Not saying competitive community is everything, but if you want a game to cater to everyone, it has to actually cater to everyone.
On niche websites neogaf, and in reality no one cares and just likes smash bros, and probably likes each smash bros more than the last. Because despite growing over the years the competitive smash community is still miniscule in the grand scheme of things. I am not saying I do not want a competitive community, i do . I'm just saying Nintendo gonna make bake if its there or not, its fucking smashbros. I can have Pac Man Punch Mario while He punches sonic and While sonic punches megaman. Competitive smash however could be a road to even more money though.
Perspective, there are characters in smash bros ,more popular than entire video game franchises.
There are probably more people who give a shit about a Pokemon character in smash bros than those who bought - insert fighting game here -