The people who complain about those things are usually the ones who know the least about videogames.
I haven’t played most of these games and I know who these characters are.
They wouldn’t know ANYONE Nintendo listed if they don’t know Samus. Maybe….MAYBE Princess Peach, though even THEN they probably wouldn’t know who that is unless they also put ‘Toadstool’ in parenthesis.
They MIGHT know Zelda, but they’d think she’s the one in the green tights.
Don’t… Know… Samus… WTF?!
I’m pretty sure most people know them. The only ones I didn’t know was lucina but that’s because I never played any fire emblam so I don’t know anyone from that series.