I knew that Castlevania: Symphony of the Night was super highly regarded, but I had never played it (never had a Playstation 1). After playing Nightmare Sphere, and knowing it had been heavily inspired by SotN, I checked on my PS3 and behold, it was available for sale as a Playstation classic.
I played it, liked it, but did not love it. I felt the controls in Nightmare Sphere were smoother, and the character had just the perfect blend of mobility and abilities compared to the slower paced Castlevania. I also played two of the DS ones, and again, enjoyable games but did not give me the same enjoyment as Nightmare Sphere did.