Originally Posted by
Phantar
I think the reasons lie in all the hype back when it was released, and are basically twofold:
1. because it got a lot of attention for being such a "mature", "Gritty" fighting game released on the Super Nintendo, somewhat breaking their family-friendly mold
2. because of the slightly prerendered graphic, which caused many magazines back in the day to (in my eyes erroneosly) describe the game as a "Next-Gen title on a current-gen console" (at least that's what I read in a few German mags back in the day).
So the hype machine went into full overdrive, causing many people (mostly teenagers back then who are now grown-ups today) to flock to that game, and who now fondly reminisce when they talk/write about it.