Answering negative reactions to the ad, Virgin Interactive's vice president of marketing stated, "Rather than opt for the route of glorifying death or exploiting profanity, we chose with NanoTek Warrior to simply utilize an eye-catching (no pun intended) comedic play on the video game cliché of 'blink and you'll miss it'.

"[7] Nanotek Warrior was well received by critics, who hailed it as the first strong step into the fifth generation of video game consoles for the shoot 'em up genre.

[5][8][9][11] They praised the game's heavy yet balanced challenge,[5][8][11] graphics,[5][8][9][11] sound effects,[5][9][11] techno soundtrack,[5][9][11] and sophisticated take on tube shooter gameplay.

[5][8][9] Major Mike gave the game a rave review in GamePro, summarizing, "Amid the drought of PlayStation shooters, Nanotek Warrior is a thunderstorm: It's an intense blaster with challenging stages and awesome bosses.

[8] Both Sushi-X (the fourth reviewer in the EGM team) and GameSpot staff felt Nanotek Warrior was more of a step in the right direction than a full-on revival for the shoot 'em up genre.