Has Symphony of the Night ever been surpassed?

I personally like Super Metroid and Guacamleee a lot more. The combat in Guacamelee is better than any metroidvania and better than most 2D side-scrollers. The exploration in Super Metroid is more compelling IMO because the environment forces you to use all your abilities and there's lots of variety in the obstacles. Also Castlevania: SoTN focuses too much on combat and there's little to nothing in the way of puzzle solving. But the secrets in the game are incredible and that's what I like most about it ! I'm going to do my first inverted castle playthrough soon.

in terms of old school 2d side scrollers i'd happily take contra 3 over sotn.

I got rid of my 360 a long time ago so this would be the chance for me to play it again. It really was a great game.

@faizanhd: guacamelee was tight... Stylized and engaging throughout. Javier jaguar was one of the toughest boss fights I've had in a while. Great game.