In retrospective reviews, Allgame rated "Wario's Woods" 4 stars out of 5 for the NES version, and 3.5 stars out of 5 for the SNES version. Christian Huey, who reviewed the NES version, stated that the controls were "both surprisingly complex and completely intuitive" while the gameplay has a "surprising level of depth", and labeled the two-player versus mode as "an extremely welcome addition to the core game." Scott Alan Marriott, who reviewed the SNES version, felt that the game "doesn't quite measure up to the addictiveness of either "Tetris" or "Dr. Mario"", citing the game's "extremely awkward" controls and complicated gameplay. While Marriott appreciated "that the developers were trying something new", he concluded that "Sometimes when you add things to an already proven formula action puzzle games, you dilute the ingredients that made it a success."