97 is a bit of an odd choice to play in tourneys i’d say, but it’s very clear why 98 still rules the roost as far as tourneys are concerned; huge and varied roster, a good deal of one-off chars that got popular yet only appeared like once later on, a huge scene that still persists in a lot of other parts of asia, and arguably the best balance out of the whole series (most of the others tended to have something or other that was insanely broken, dark geese and others i think can elaborate on this point)
2002 and to a degree XI also still have a big scene around them, 95 is basically in the same position as CE as far as i know, and nearly all the others have at least had their moment in the sun at some point (example, youtube has a good deal of 2k1 and 2k3 tourney vids)