Peter Bartholow of "GameSpot" summarized "Mischief Makers" as "a good game that will leave players wanting more". He liked the bosses, which made the player use all available skills but felt they were short-lived and easily solved in the context of a short game with tutorials as one-fifth of its levels. He did not consider the ending extension a suitable reward for returning to the levels, and predicted that most players would not finish the game more than once. "Game Informer" echoed Bartholow's comments about the game's brevity, and named the game's seven-event Olympics as a highlight. Sushi-X of "Electronic Gaming Monthly" wrote that the game felt incomplete and lamented that "a decent player can finish the game in under three hours", though "Next Generation" said the game was "certainly long enough". The game's frequent reuse of a small selection of titles, objects, sound effects, soundtracks, and bland backgrounds (compared to the "impressive" boss battle animations and effects) led "GameSpot" Bartholow to suggest that "Mischief Makers" was limited by its cartridge space. He concluded that the "decent" game would be "truly excellent ... on another medium". Zachary Miller of "Nintendo World Report" reported that the graphics did not age well into 2010. Dan Hsu wrote in "Electronic Gaming Monthly" that the game is "definitely a sleeper hit". "Hardcore Gamer" Ryan Cartmel said the game went "largely unnoticed", while "GamePro" claimed that it had " a strong following in Japan".