So quite a few people have been saying i should get the Castlevania games for ds. Keeping in mind that i am a poor student, if you had to pick one of the 3 games to show exactly what Castlevania is as a whole, which one would it be? My plan is to get the one that most people say and then, depending if i like it or not, move onto the other 2. 

Dawn of Sorrow, easily.

Yes, Dawn of Sorrow is truly the best entry on the DS. The collectable abilities and souls basically keep the gameplay fresh and addictive, moreso than the others.

Dawn of Sorrow is pretty awesome, and stays close to the Symphony of the Night formula, with a little stylus stuff. But good luck finding it.
 
Ecclesia is good too, but I think I liked Dawn of Sorrow better.

I agree that Dawn of Sorrow is the best, Portrait would be my second pick.

Portrait of Ruin was the most different and fair game out the three.

Right, looks like Dawn of Sorry is going to get a try. Ill try and get it on ebay to start with, probs the cheapest option anyway. 

Ecclesia is my favorite of the entire series, so I recommend it. Dawn of Sorrow was fantastic also however.

I liked portrait the best, and dos was also good. Ooe's difficulty/layout turned me off since i like sotn castlevania games.

I have only played Portrait of Ruin, but I am in desperate need of getting a DS to play the others. I loved Portrait. Jealous of you getting Dawn of Sorrow :P

Just skip the DS games and get the old classic SNES one its called  SUPER CASTLEVANIA 4 in my opinion more fun then any of those "Metroidish" versions!
 
Also if you have a PSP that game is a lot of fun too and has great graphics.

I liked Dawn of Sorrow, but the endgame was a pretty huge letdown. I liked Aria much more.
 
I'd say Portrait. It tried something different, and while that different stuff might not have always worked out the best, the bosses were fantastic and because of the portrait system of the thing, it had a bit more of an "oldschool" feel than the other DS games.
 
I didn't play too much of Ecclesia, unfortunately, so I can't comment.

Dawn of Sorrow defiantly. 

I never got what all the fuss surrounding Ecclesia's difficulty was all about as it's only slightly harder than Portrait of Ruin IMO (unless you spam Dual Crushes -- but even then you'll need to stay alive long enough for your mana bar to recharge or stock up on Mana Potions and eventually run out of money).
 
Also, neither of those are particularly difficult IMO. Yes, they're significantly more difficult than all the other RPG Castlevanias (with the exception of Circle of the Moon, but that's just a shitty-ass game IMO), but having to actually go out of your way to dodge enemy attacks does not a difficult game make. That's what an action game makes. Castlevania players have just gotten lazy over the years as all the other RPG Castlevanias allow you to stand in one place mashing buttons and chugging a Potion when necessary.

Ecclesia was also touted as being a return to form, but again, it really isn't all that much different from Portrait of Ruin as it also adopted a more stage-based design and its level design hearkens back to older Castlevanias as you're just as likely to get killed by an environmental hazard as you are by an enemy (perhaps even moreso if you're not used to those). 

Anyway, Dawn of Sorrow is the most RPG-like Castlevania out of the bunch as it's mad easy, has a weapon synthesis system, and has a ton of abilities you can collect from enemies; Portrait of Ruin has some very unique level design and IMO the best music out of the 3; and Ecclesia is just the most challenging out of the 3. 

I don't really know which one of these I personally like most as I kinda just prefer Aria of Sorrow on the GBA over all of them, but if I had to recommend one of them to someone who's never played a Castlevania game before it'd be Portrait of Ruin.