Only thing I really disliked about the MI series was how mash friendly it was compared to 2D KOF's, although maybe that has some sort of appeal to newcomers like other 3D fighting games tend to have. MI had a pretty fluid combo system, but some of the stuff it allowed like the wall combo's and OTG's was nuts... Kim's Hishoukyaku could OTG and he could SC off it, crazy lol. Then there was like a Rising Tackle semi-infinite off the wall with Terry+Rock I believe. There was alot of crazy shit in the game, but I think it was probably one of the better hybrid fighters out there that used elements of 2D fighters with 3D fighter gameplay. If it was just polished more, it could of been really good.
Some more KOF mainstays would of been good too, Joe, King, Benimaru, Yamazaki, maybe a few other classics or recent Ash Saga characters like Shen Woo, and Vanessa would of been good too.
Also for once Billy Kane was capable of RIDICULOUS combo's. Love it.
And honestly, I don't think the game was that bad graphically either, about slightly better than DOA2:Hardcore, which was a pretty nice looking game in its own time. But I think if they could amp the visuals up to Tekken levels, it would be really good, give it a slightly more realistic art style to it. Stages could of been better too I think, too many stages felt or looked boxed in, and lacked that classic SNK appeal, or were totally empty/barren, lacking in details and animation.
Yeah, it was a bit mash friendly because of the style combo system, which, while cool, had issues. I think they were trying to appeal to the Tekken crowd, but I think they could've gone with a simpler target combo system that works like the stuff in the RB series.
The combos were awesome and I liked how creative you could get with them, I mean, yeah they're silly and having Kim's ranbu super being an OTG is nutty, but it's a very satisfying and allows a lot of different options. Basically, it allows everyone to have different combos for the same characters and made things fresh. I just wish that the damage scaling made more sense, because some supers did insane amounts of damage for little work.
The game didn't look bad, but I still think that DOA, VF and Tekken still trumped it in visuals. It was decent enough for the time, but to be honest it didn't have the polish of its competition.
My only issue is that I wish the game had better jump options. Jumping just isn't essential like it is in the 2D versions.
As for their future plans with this, I don't think it'll come back. It's already been years since the last game and making a new set of HD models would be too much for SNK to compete with the like of SF and TK. And if they wait to the next generation it'd only be worse. They'd end up doing the same thing they did with KOFXII and have a weak roster with butchered movesets. Their best bet maybe the 3DS or the Vita if that's possible.