Do you really think that way about the Street Fighter 3 as a whole? We got one of the most significant fighting game ports last gen in the form of Third Strike. My understanding is it was well received by the FGC. Sure we got alpha ports but not the Alpha anthology as a whole, correct me if I'm wrong. The Evo Moment with parrys is the stuff of legend in the FGC. The series has its flaws but I personally think labeling something most SF fans hate is a stretch.
Regardless of fan opinion, I'm pretty sure this is actually true.
Alpha: 1995
Alpha 2: 1996
III: 1997
III Second Impact: 1997
Alpha 3: 1998
III Third Strike: 1999
Capcom had shifted from the Alpha series to the III series, but the III series (and the CPS3 in general) weren't doing well. It's not entirely because III dropped the classic characters; arcade owners also didn't want an expensive new machine, especially one that could kill itself if mishandled. If memory serves, Alpha 3 was made specifically so that they could sell a new CPS2 game and arcade owners didn't have to buy an entirely new machine.
I fear that Color Edit mode may be another SFxT situation where everyone picks the most annoying colors or camouflages their character into their stage of choice, which is a shame considering that I had quite a bit of fun with said mode in SFxT.
More importantly, I hope we can rename characters a la CVS2's colour edit. So we can change Balrog's name to Mike Tyson and Blanka's to Pikachu.