Almost all of them really. Pikmin, F-Zero, Kirby, Starfox, Earthbound, Fire Emblem, Kid Icarus, Metroid, etc. Only Mario, Pokemon, Zelda, and Sonic are relatively well known outside of Smash Bros.

C'mon now, not almost all of them! I disagree with both Samus+Kirby... Others you listed yes, especially Marth+C Falcon (Fox too)

Kirby n Metroid games only sell like a million or two copies each, putting them on the a tier closer to the likes of Pikmin, Kid Icarus, Fire Emblem n such than Mario or Pokemon.

I didn't know the falcon punch originated in SSB (I thought it was just an internet meme, I haven't played any SSB game but have the F-zero games))

That doesn't make any sense. Your using Sales to justify your answers? C'mon now. Kirby games sell 1mil-2.5mil per title but kirby has been in  a shit load of games even if Wii/DS generation.

Another example is Thats like saying Link/Zelda/Ganon are known more in SSB than in Zelda franchise

Of course I am! The only other prooof that could be used would be to ask every single person in the world, but obviously that's not possible.

I think it's more a question of association, or overall use than game vs.game sales. A Metroid game has Samus in it, and in general if you ask a Nintendo gamer about Samus they will be thinking of Metroid before SSB. And in terms of use you play as Samus through the whole game, compared to SSB where some people might never play as Samus, or some might only use her occasionally.

As such here is my opinion:
These characters are definately more associated with SSB than their own games:
 - Falco
 - Ice Climbers
 - Ike
 - King Dedede
 - Little Mac
 - Lucas
 - Marth
 - Meta Knight
 - Mr. Game & Watch
 - Ness
 - Pit
 - R.O.B.
 - Roy
 - Sheik
 - Wolf
 - Zero Suit Samus

While these characters are the maybes:
 - Captain Falcon (mainly here due to the lack of a recent F-zero game)
 - Diddy Kong (despite the recent DK games, though if there wasn't an SSB about to come out I might have said no)
 - Fox (same situation as C.Falcon, but he is more associated with his own franchise than Falco/Wolf)
 - Kirby (Has had recent games but I still think he is an SSB character first)
 - Lucario
 - Jigglypuff

Some ofhter characters that are new to SSBU will probably make it to these lists too, but before release I think people will generally associae them with their own games (or instead ask "Who?" )

Fox and Captain Falcon.