Which was your favorite Castlevania entry?

I fell out with the entire series after the SNES releases. I came back to play again when they had a 3D game but I dont' recall what the name was. Since then, I have only peeked at CV games and was really quick to give up on them. This is a flaw on my own part I know. I normally will complain that they are "too hard" but then I just need to think back to how painfully difficult they always have been, right?