What's cool about Athena is that she's one of the few characters that aesthetically changes in attire with each new iteration she gets appeared in, sometimes slightly, sometimes a lot.
She's actually my least favorite character in terms of original characters created and personality as it's that typical sailor moon magical madoka school girl with the whole cheesy dialogue. Gameplay-wise, she always looked alright and simple.
It's also possible that hearing the word "PSYCHO BAAAWL :3 owo!!!" has caused many hispanics to curse out in spanish and attacking the arcade cabinets from the sheer chalkboard scratching of who she is as a character, and was a very strong character to boot.