It has received criticism from several publications including IGN staff, who called it one of the worst Virtual Console games.

[5] The +−×÷ Exercise requires players to solve fixed math puzzles by climbing chains to reach the correct numbers and arithmetic symbols to do so.

[6][7] It reuses its engine, assets, and gameplay from Donkey Kong Jr.[8][3][5] It was a part of the Educational Series on the NES, a series that was originally supposed to have three entries, including music game Donkey Kong's Music Play[b] [ja], but was the only one released under that line.

Math was re-released on the Wii's Virtual Console in Japan on March 27, 2007,[14] Europe and Australia on April 20, and in North America on September 3.

[11] It was re-released again for the Wii U's Virtual Console in North America on August 28, 2014, in Europe on January 22, 2015, and in Japan on April 15.

[17][16] Despite this negative reception, the magazine Joystick felt Nintendo was worthy of praise for its attempt at making an educational game.

[18] The game was also a commercial failure, with a Nintendo spokesperson noting its lack of success as being due to poor reception.

[22] Frank Provo of GameSpot felt that its math problems were either too easy for young children or too boring for older ones.

Elizabeth Sweedyk, associate computer science professor at Harvey Mudd College, felt that Donkey Kong Jr.