I can play the game over and over again just so I can listen to "Lost Painting" (you know, the one that plays in the upside down library among other places). One of the most genius soundtracks in a game ever.

Totally.

I love classical music and heavy metal and that game has you covered for both. Probably my favourite soundtrack ever. These "licensed" soundracks are cool but that game is all original compositions and jsut as good.

Its really a shame I can't play DS castlevanias on a home console on my TV. I really hate the small screen and wish DS had TV out. PSP one was ok...but not as good as those DS one.

Konami really needs to get around to releasing a modern Castlevania Collection.

I don't think Simon's Quest is the classic Castlevania game but I do think it's underrated and gets a lot of undeserved hate.

People go at most NES games with the mentality of you should be able to rent them one weekend and beat it but Simon's Quest just isn't one of those games.  Castlevania was and Castlevania III was, but not so much Castlevania II.  Like Milon's Secret Castle it required a shit load of exploring and just testing things out and isn't the horrible game that people make it out to be.

That said, it has plenty of problems (slow text, things are a little too well hidden, you're asked to do a few completely random things nobody would really think of, ect) and I still don't think I would actually call it a good game.  I think it was a fantastic start that inspired later games, but not so much good.

OOE is definitely a great game. Definitely my favorite of the DS games. I actually bought the game twice! Once the first time and then later I bought the LE version (I really wanted the soundtrack!)

The GBA games are also pretty good. Aria being the best out of them, IMO though I really like Harmony as well.

Symphony of the Night is still my favorite out of all of them though. I have 5 different copies of the game, haha.

Wow...I don't know what to say to that....

Simon's Quest is often regarded as one of the worst in the series, often compared to Zelda II, but with WAY more bugs and problems.  Castlevania III on the other hand is often considered one of the best games in the series, if not the best by some.  And it set the standard for Castlevania games that followed until Symphony of the Night (and even then, IGA says its his favorite).

I think this video explains it all: http://www.gametrailers.com/video/angry-video-screwattack/57923

Well, to me it was the opposite, since I found Castlevania III to be the most crappy of the series, due to the lack of depth that your attacks had, and the bad jumping mechanics.

That being said, it's one of the issues that's plaged most of the old style castlevania games, and I admit that Simon's quest had the most bugs, but to me, the story and the flow of the game was one of the best in an old style Castlevania.

I played all the castlevanias games and I will Highly Reccomend Castlevania II and III for the NES era and all the portables (GBA - DS)

I agree that Castlevania 2 and 3 were great back in the day...Super Castlevania too on the Snes. But do you really think that someone that started with a DS castlevania will appreciate the old school titles?

I think SOTN is as far as a new fan of the series can go, if they start with a post -metroidvania version of the game.

Sadly, no.  And that's the problem.  There's a split in Castlevania fans now adays.  A lot of people who played the games back on the NES and SNES days enjoy the newer games (and some don't) but they're really looking around for something more 'quality' to come out of the series.  I myself feel that the last 10-12 years after SotN has been rather weak and repetative.  Kind of like just repeating the legacy of SotN, but with a new coat of paint and a new story each game.  Even the 3D games were basically SotN put on a 3D plane.

On the flip side there's people who just got into the series with SotN, Aria or even Dawn of Sorrow and think they're the best games in the whole series.  But then won't even touch any of the past games considering them too 'primitive' and because they're 'different'.  Is this thinking wrong?  Well maybe not, but it IS wrong to claim that when you won't even play the past games and just obsess over the newer ones.

This is why I think the recent change of Konami (finally) having new development groups working on the series again and trying to hark back to the 'older' feel of the series is healthy.  The series needs new blood, or else the only fans who will be playing it in the future are the same rouchly 500,000 people obsessed with 'Dawn of Sorrow'.