MvC series is popular among the hardcore crowd as was CvS; it was hardly the same phenomena as SFII/MK/SNK was back in the day. They were popular games to us old time 2D fans but most people were more interested in Tekken of DoA. I felt the audiance was small even though I enjoyed those days. There has been a real lack of strong and accessible 2D fighters for a few years and I don't count SSB cause it also took a bit of steam to finally catch on. Melee created the core base while the recent Brawl has made it a true phenomena and even then, these are somewhat recent trends.
Lol i am pretty sure Marvel was popular all throughout America, but CvS however is more or less dead at this time with only Japan and NorCal having any real player base anymore and SFIV killed it. You would think people get more excited about games like CvS but instead of that you find people sticking with the games they grew up with. My friend would rather play SFIIHD over SFIV because it feels too different...which is fine i know classic is nice but its not giving SFIV too much of a chance. If they rehash too much its the same thing with new gfxs or a remake/port, if its too different people will go SFIII on them and say its too hard to pick up...how difficult to get the perfect medium..=/

Melee created the base yes, but Brawl apparently is 'too watered down' for people who play it competitively and dont like it from what i heard....blargh, again with the 'do you want it to be the same game or different?" -_-

Thats the trend we need to see gone..seriously. ADAPT PEOPLE. If its not horribly broken we can all adapt! At least try before going back to an old game.