I was more pointing out that Namco doesn't really have like a main mascot like Mario or Sonic. Jin is definitely one of their more recognizable characters though in terms of Tekken characters Heihachi tends to show up more in crossovers/cameos like Soul Calibur II. I agree though that Sakurai does love hero characters. Smash Bros. could definitely use more villains. Besides Ganondorf, every other bad guy either also qualifies as an anti-hero or has teamed up with the good guys.
Semi-related, Capcom doesn't really have a main mascot anymore either. No one really remembers Captain Commando and Mega Man has been thoroughly curb stomped. Chris Redfield maybe though the team way back when said their favorite character was Jill. Perhaps Ryu since Street Fighter's resurgence.
Anyway, I would be super surprised if Pac-Man didn't show up as playable (along with the ghosts Pinky, Blinky, Inky, and Clyde in some capacity). Sounds like Katsuhiro Harada is specifically referring to "puling back" on Tekken characters, like maybe he was suggesting almost an invasion of Tekken until Sakurai raised the pimp hand and told him no. That said, after Pac-Man, zero additional Namco characters at worst, probably two more at best.
EDIT: For anyone who has no idea who this KOS-MOS I was talking about earlier is,
this could pretty much be her moveset, even if she spends most of that fight getting her ass kicked by T-elos (4:38 for some pew-pew). Semi-related, I always found it odd that they pronounce KOS-MOS as "cose-mose" when Monolith Soft went so far out of their way to make the acronym look like cosmos.