I mean it still isn't, but at the time, it was a hair away from Ice Climbers in terms of relevance.
When Brawl was revealed in 2006, Kid Icarus was not the most prolific franchise. Besides him being too broken and killing the Brawl scene, you gotta admit it's cool to see Meta Knight to join the field so he can have a rematch with our favorite pink puffball. The Kirby series needed more representation so I'm glad they started off with one of Kirby's most iconic anti-heroes, Meta Knight. What could be more hype to see Meta Knight, as the first newcomer for the Brawl roster. Man, the E3 Brawl reveal was so hyped to see all the four big icons shift into the Wii console, which means a new Smash Bros along with new characters. It's also the first game to feature third-party guest characters! (Three more to go!) The first Smash game that I and pretty much everyone has played who was introduced to Smash Bros.
