My recollection is pretty different, I remember him going on rampage and causing massive destruction for most of the '98 movie rather than "sneak and slither around".
Still, I'd rather have him "sneak and slither around" than not show up at all, which was the case for over half of the 2014 movie. Godzilla had a minor cameo role in his own movie. If they wanted to make a movie that revolved around giant monsters called MUTOs, they should have called it that. The MUTOs in the 2014 movie were cooler creatures than Godzilla anyway.
In any case the Japanese Godzilla movies are better than either American movie. I don't expect that pattern to change. Hollywood doesn't get Godzilla.
I agree it took him too long to show up in the ‘14 version. But the style of the monster was much better in ‘14 than in ‘98.