(Mortal Kombat's better now... >_< Can't we just forget 4, Gold, and the side-stories?)
I kinda liked KI and KI2/KIG.
I remember when I actually knew how to make combos...let's see...opener, linker, then some special move, which I guess is another linker, then an ender or an Ultra Combo ender. As the opponent falls back down I give them a projectile to juggle.
Then there were C-C-C-Combo Breakers. Pop-ups (quick recovery and counter-hit after being knocked down). Aerial openers. Jump-in openers (quick to quick, medium to fierce, fierce to medium). Starting a combo with the end part of a multi-hit special move (like using the last part of B. Orchid's Flik-Flak to extend the combo longer than usual and pull off a 48-hit combo in the first KI). Ultimate Combos (which weren't really combos). Etc.
I bet I can still remember the combo names...let's see...Triple, Super, Hyper, Brutal, um...something for seven..., Awesome, um...something for nine..., Monster, King, Killer, Ultra, Ultimate...
Yeah, it was cool - at the time. I think it helped that it was a Nintendo-exclusive fighter that had a real combo system, even if few people actually did learn every possible nuance.
(If Kim Wu, Maya, and B. Orchid are jiggly, then Tecmo's DoA girls are gonna have some competition on the Xbox 360!)
Hard to say if it would've done better on a Nintendo console. I guess it depends on how much the game is promoted.