"Even when new, these games didnt make squat. Ask any remaining arcade Op. They were huge flops.
Just because an arcade had a game, does not mean it earned well for them.
And, a good game will make you want to play it, no matter if the graphics look aged. "
I'm not even talking about the success of this game in particular(which received many ports, a spinoff arcade game by Raw Thrills dev'd by the original team years later, and a sequel for Xbox Live), nor a graphics vs gameplay point. I'm referring to arcades in general by that era. Consoles were more popular by that time. When you can play most of the same arcade games with nearly perfect ports and sometimes with online play, why go pay $.50+ per play on usually non-maintained cabinets when you can sit at home and play on your big screen TV with surround sound?
Blaming this game is ignoring all the other problems the industry had at the time. And for what it's worth, this, Offroad Thunder, and Rush 2049 were some of my most played games in arcades around that time.