I actually enjoyed the game, but I've never minded the jank and hassle of the Hydlide series -- rather like it, actually. Virtual Hydlide is goofy as hell, of course, but I appreciate the way its vaguely roguelike aspects make it a relatively short playthrough with very little in the way of exposition, cutscenes, or grinding. This is how I reviewed it back in 2018:
"I'm not a big fan of the "guilty pleasure" descriptor for games -- or any form of media, really -- but Virtual Hydlide comes close. Is a bad game you enjoy playing still a bad game? Maybe... [...]
Anyway, Virtual Hydlide is a very sincere pumpkin patch, and I hope the Great Pumpkin visits it someday, at 5 frames per second."