It’s Japan, they got a scene for fucking SF:The Movie:The Game. It’s not surprising that they might get their hands on MK9. I kind seriously doubt that mk9 will ever be at SBO. But I heard there was a few offline Japanese MK9 tournaments in Japanese Final Roundbats stream.
Even if there was arcades(which are probably badass mods like this), the japan community must sweep that moment or it won’t fucking matter. I mean X-men:COTA -MVC2 series had arcades(which are probably rare as fuck to find in japan), but Japan didn’t take those games seriously . UMVC3 being at SBO is primarily because of Japan’s UMVC3 community, and how it’s more active than any other Marvel game in Japan(UMVC3’s online community specifically).
They always say SBO isn’t going to happen yet it still does. The level of SBO is just going to keep decreasing I feel like though. Its already evident as you saw this year and the earlier years. I don’t think it’s going to get back to the pride and joy that it used to be but miracles can happen. The fan base isn’t that big yet in Japan but there are some people who love everything about MK. I remember reading back then that they thought MK was the most unique fighting game created a long time ago. If they pick it up on arcades, that’s good for them. I love arcades and just hearing about that a game in general is getting an arcade is awesome.