There's quite a bit of history between France and Japan which goes far beyond videogames.

Your country was already craving anime in the early 70's and you embraced Dragonball a couple of years earlier than us in NA.

Even around 1870, french painters were strongly inspired by japanese art and culture (the term used to describe the phenomenon is japonism).
In some ways, MK X is on par with most well known japanese FG and also a notch below in some ways. Like GB said, it's still weird as fuck to see a character jumping in the air and having his momentum stopped when he connect with a kick. I am not a fan of the dial-up combo system or the weak normals, but it's a "trademark" of the series at this point.