How was SF seen during the Alpha series?

I did not play fighting games seriously at the time, but today I notice that no one ever talks about the Alpha series when it comes to competition. No mentions of champions or goats of the era, memorable moments at Evo or anything.

I only played those games on emulators against the computer and I remember great soundtracks and art/character designs. But whenever history and nostalgia is brought up, it's always about the SF2, 3S and SF4 days.

Did no one take the Alpha ones seriously? What's the story?