Meteos received critical acclaim and reached number one in DS sales in the UK market during its first week, according to research company Chart-Track.

[9] Each block sent out of the playing field is cached in a virtual bank, from which the player can unlock new planets, aliens and sounds.

[10] The player can play as one of thirty-two aliens and their respective planets,[11] each of which has a unique gravitational pull that affects the way the blocks launch.

[7][13] The Simple mode allows a quick play of the game while letting the player change the rules, such as the difficulty and the number of lives they can have.

[22] The game was conceived when Tetsuya Mizuguchi asked Masahiro Sakurai to make a falling block puzzle.

Believing the puzzle game genre had not evolved since Tetris Attack (1995), Sakurai originated the idea of having the blocks fall down and shoot back up.

According to Mizuguchi, 24's camera work and the beginning of The Matrix—in which green computer code cascades down the screen—served as the basis of the puzzle-game concept.

[24] In a Famitsu interview, Sakurai said the opening CG video explaining its backstory was added to provide a sense of the game's world.

[4] Meteos generally received praise from video game critics; review aggregating website Metacritic recorded a score of 88/100.

[27] According to UK market research company Chart-Track, after three days of release the game debuted at number one in DS sales for the week of September 24, 2005.

[15] GameSpy's Phil Theobald criticized Meteos' stylus-driven control theme, considering it the game's chief flaw.

[35] The game's review from Nintendo World Report said music fans would likely find something they liked from the soundtrack's broad selection.

[52] After the announcement that the Wii U would be adding DS games to the system's Virtual Console, the GamesRadar and Nintendo Life websites said they wanted Meteos to be available on that platform.

[53][54] On September 7, 2005, the mobile-game publisher Gameloft announced they would bring Meteos and Q Entertainment's other puzzle game Lumines to cell phones.

[67] Mickey Mouse, Jack Sparrow and Winnie the Pooh are featured in the game, whose plot involves restoring order in a storybook vault after its contents are mysteriously rearranged.

[68] This sequel added a significant change in gameplay; the Nintendo DS was held sideways, creating a taller playing field on the touchscreen.

The free-to-play game, which offered online play for up to four players, was also planned for release on SoftBank cell phones.