For a second I was baffled at the inclusion of Simon's Quest* over Dracula's Curse but then it was obvious. If the Atari 2600 throwback consoles from the last decade are any indication, some high profile games were purposefully left out so that Nintendo could include them in future iterations of this system. If this one sells, and I expect it will, expect to see an NES classic 2 and 3 in stores in the coming years. Dracula's Curse will probably be on one of them, along with some significant but not overwhelming overlap from this release.
*I like it and it's a fine game for its time don't get me wrong. Probably even a little underrated these days. But the 3rd game is so much better and it's obvious which has more mass appeal.
The thought crossed my mind as well. If they do make another one in the future, it'd probably be even more third party stuff, since Nintendo put their best first party games on here. CV3, MM3 or 1, Ninja Gaiden 2 and or 3, Dragon Warrior, Contra 1, Double Dragon 1 etc. I'd personally love to see some more obscure games like Guardian Legend on a new one