ive never actually played the games, is this a good place to start?

Its pretty hard but its basically 3 games in one. If you could survive long enough to unlock Symphony of the night and the later come back to the main game, go for it.
 
I ended up liking the Rondo of Blood Remake more than SotN

I'd say SotN is the best place to start. It isn't the hardest Castlevania game out there, but it isn't a pushover. It is also the beginning of what you may call modern Castlevania. When people think of the series now most of them think of a big map for to explore as you wish, fight tons of enemies, and discover new items and abilities that let you access other parts of the game world.

" Its pretty hard but its basically 3 games in one. If you could survive long enough to unlock Symphony of the night and the later come back to the main game, go for it.  I ended up liking the Rondo of Blood Remake more than SotN "

Castlevania is my favorite series and I think this is a great place to start.  Castlevania, in 2D at least, is split up into two segments.  The early Castlevania games were action-platformers, most of which were fairly linear, games like this and Castlevania 3 being some exceptions.  After this title, the series went mostly into a direction that was similar to the Metroid games, where you are set at the start of one giant level (usually just a castle) and you have to explore it, picking up items and power-ups that will help you progress further in until you reach you ultimate goal.   
 
This game, as you're probably aware, is a remake of Rondo of Blood which was part of the "bridge" between those two segments.  The other part, which is conveniently on this UMD, is Symphony of the Night, the game that started the Metroidvania half of the 2D Castlevanias, and also happens to be my favorite game of all time.  Now it's not to say old style Castlevania games haven't been made since SotN, but that is where the series leaned for a while.  Give this game a go, unlock SotN, and right there you have the best entry into both worlds of 2D Castlevania.

if you had a DS, I'd recommend Dawn or Ecclesia more. Rondo might be a good game but it's hard as shit

" @luce said:

" Its pretty hard but its basically 3 games in one. If you could survive long enough to unlock Symphony of the night and the later come back to the main game, go for it.  I ended up liking the Rondo of Blood Remake more than SotN "

I think you're crazy. I think the game play in SotN is MUCH tighter, tho there's less of a challenge once you get the shield rod. in reality that's the closest you could get to a cheat in that game.  Edit: they're both great games though. don't disagree with that. "