Because it's true. During the Arcade Era, Mortal Kombat had movies, comics, tv shows, trading cards, action figures, and even a live action tour. It was a huge franchise and pop culture phenomenon.
Do you mean while riding the wave of MK and MKII before the start of the downturn during MK3 and the huge drop-off of MK4? MK4 was in 97...the same year that Mortal Kombat Annihilation came out and turned the franchise into a laughing stock that was the butt of a zillion jokes that continue to this day.
You can look at the numbers yourselves. Look at the best selling fighters. You're not going to see MK3. You're not going to see MK4. Now, that is not to say they did terribly because MK has always sold well as a series...BUT if you look what do you see? Deadly Alliance. Deception. Armageddon. They sold very well. Despite the damage that was done by previous games. Especially 4. MK basically disappeared for a while because of 4. Proof is in the pudding. Look at the release schedule of the games.
92, 93, 95, 97, 02, 04, 06, 08, 2011, 2015, 2019, 2023
That half a decade gap? That's the fall-out from MK4. How in the world are we saying
the 3d era was a low point when they were releasing top selling games every 2 years for 6 years? MK4 created a 5 year gap until it was palatable to release another MK. That's a bigger gap than between VS DC and MK9.
The 3d era was not a slump. It was a recovery from a slump. MK1, MKDA and MK9 are the 3 major era kick-offs for MK success. This is inarguable. Arcade, 3d and NRS.
MK and Tekken were the two pillars holding up fighting games in the mainstream through the 00s.
And, mind you, this is not nostalgia for me. I'm from the arcade era. I love MK3. I played UMK3 and MKT more than any other MK until modern ones and didn't get into the 3d era until it was out for a bit. I bought all three 3d games at the same time to play through.
The 3D Era arrived as the fighting game genre was in heavy decline, and everything dried up. All of the above stuff went away and no one carried about the franchise anymore. It was still there, but nothing major.
This is absolutely wrong. So much so that it's wrong by nearly half a decade. SF3 was in 97 and arcades were already in decline. SF3 was the biggest arcade game when it came out...and it barely made money. 3rd Strike came out in 99 and arcades were essentially fully niche by that time with a huge rise in home gaming. Were people still going? Were people still playing fighters? Absolutely. Were arcades what they were in the 80's and early-mid 90's? Not even close. The downturn hit fast and hard. As the era of CD systems caught on through 95 and onward arcades got hit hard.
The 3d era started in 02, a full half a decade after SF3's release. A half a decade
after the start of the downturn and the release of SF3 and MK4. Neither of which did well. The result was an entire new era for MK that saw them topping charts again. Was it the cultural phenomenon that MK I was? Obviously not...but it was far better for Midway than MK3 or 4 were, which were a full half of the 'arcade era'
