Castlevania Legends is the third Castlevania title released for the original Game Boy. It was released in Japan on November 27, 1997 and in Europe and North America on March 11, 1998.

The game was conceived as a prequel to all other games in the Castlevania series; however, it later became recognized as non-canon. The story follows Sonia Belmont, a vampire hunter battling the first incarnation of Count Dracula.

Castlevania Legends is a side-scrolling platformer where the protagonist, Sonia Belmont, armed with a whip, charges through five stages of Count Dracula's castle, filled with various enemies and candles containing items. Each stage ends in a mini-boss fight which rewards a "Soul Weapon", which Sonia can cast, consuming varying amounts of hearts.

The game implements two difficulty levels and password based save states. Should the timer run out, Sonia fall off the screen, or either her life bar or time counter fall to zero, she will lose all of her hearts and one life, and will restart at the beginning of the current screen with the basic whip. If she loses all of her lives, the player is presented with the Game over screen, where they may exit or choose to continue from the beginning of the current stage. Once per stage, Sonia can activate her inborn ability to enter "Burning Mode", where she becomes invincible, moves faster, and has more powerful attacks for ten seconds.