Chew Man Fu was created by Now Production, an Osaka-based game development company founded in 1986 by Toshiaki Awamura, who would later work on future projects such as Adventure Island II and Rolling Thunder 3.

Chew Man Fu garnered mostly positive reception since its release on the TurboGrafx-16; critics found the game's design to be unusual but straightforward and commended its strong action element, large and detailed character sprites, controls, technical performance and use of passwords to resume progress, but other reviewers felt mixed regarding the overall audiovisual presentation and simple gameplay, while the maze editor was criticized for lacking the ability to save levels.

Public reception was also positive; readers of PC Engine Fan voted to give the game a 21.30 out of 30 score, ranking at the number 216 spot in a poll, indicating a popular following.

Lapworth noted that the two-player mode could be fun and commended the character sprites for being large and "excellently" defined, as well as the oriental-style music and sound effects, but criticized its maze editor for lacking the ability to save levels.

[23] AllGame's Shawn Sackenheim found its gameplay to be simple but unique and challenging, and praised the character animations for being "cute and entertaining", as well as the extra game modes and replay value, but criticized both visuals and music for being repetitive.

[26] Nintendo Life concurred with Thomas when reviewing the Virtual Console reissue, stating that the game "won't be everyone's cup of tea" but commended its bright and colorful graphics, as well as the simplistic but challenging and smooth gameplay.

Provo gave positive remarks to the increasingly difficult maze layouts, cartoon-esque sprites, "peppy" music, length, two-player mode and level editor, but he criticized its gameplay for being repetitive and plain presentation.

[27] Eurogamer's Dan Whitehead noted it to be simple but addictive and accessible when reviewing the title on the Virtual Console, praising its large sprites and ball physics.