Not as bad as everyone makes it out to be, but hold on! It's not even that good.

Castlevania Legends has a cool protagonist design and a nice soundtrack.

... that's it. Everything else feels uninspired, unbalanced (since the first power-up you get is literally the best one) and mostly out of touch with what made the other GB Castlevania games good. There's no enemy variety and even if there was, they all walk and fly towards the player as their mastermind plan. There are forks in the levels, but you can be locked out of the good ending if you choose the wrong path even once! I love being locked out as soon as I start the game!

Adding that the gameplay itself is ok at best, sluggish and tedious at worst, it can be seen why Legends isn't beloved by many. I tried making it work, but it felt more like a roadtrip distraction, as it maybe it was meant to be, compared to an actual videogame.