Because you have to ship at some point. They could add characters until the end of time but if they don't ship we don't get to play it. And then you have Duke Nukem Forever.
Hitstop was a bit obnoxious visually, but that doesn't really affect the gameplay other than making chains/hitconfirms easier, and things being slow and having big recovery isn't necessarily bad.
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Hope there's an option to turn that shit off.
Actually I'm not even sure I want that. At this point it doesn't really matter the game's a joke anyway.
Personally I think TM/FB have been shooting themselves in the foot by not making an XBLA-PSN port for the last two iterations. Such a huge exposure opportunity (especially in the west) squandered. This isn't some uncertain startup franchise at this point. This series is on the forefront of the fighter scene and has been for a while. It deserves better than a PS2 port every other iteration.