User blog comment:Wachowman/Who Will Survive SSB5?/@comment-6604133-20141017214713/@comment-25317463-20141018061938

but these characters were added because Sakurai and thee dev team wanted them, NOT for a joke. also Snake was added by Kojima's request, Pichu was added because it was easy! and Duck Hunt represents Nintendo's grand shooting games from the early 80s.

just because they seem obscure doesn't mean that their inclusion is just a joke.