Is Marvel 1 considered bad?

Mahvel 2 and 3 garner unfathomable degrees of hype and are extremely popular within the community. Yet, the original MvC is apparently on the opposite side of the spectrum. There is very, very little information or coverage on the game, it is rarely ever discussed, and most importantly: no one is playing it.

This disappoints me personally because I find the original to be the most enjoyable out of the bunch, yet it is quite literally dead. I'm just curious as to why that is.