Cooking Mama began as a successful series of games on the Nintendo DS series of handheld consoles, also spawning spin-offs like Gardening Mama and Babysitting Mama.

Therefore there was a lot of excitement around an announced sequel for the Nintendo Switch, particularly with the introduction of a vegetarian-only mode for the first time. However, shortly after release on the digital Nintendo eShop, it was withdrawn from sale. Physical copies also quickly became scarce. Official reasons for the withdrawal are unclear - as of June 2020, a statement is yet to be released.

Rumours soon circulated those who did receive the game complained of it overheating their systems, leading to the controversial speculation that the game was using people's systems for background cryptomining. Others perhaps more rationally suggested that this game was just rushed and therefore poorly optimised.

The game reviewed poorly, as Cookstar is sadly lacking in quality and content compared to the previous titles. It reportedly fails to fully utilise the motion controls that the Switch JoyCons offer, which seems like an obvious addition for this installment. It was commented that it really doesn't seem an improvement on the DS games, the only notable difference being a higher resolution, but in this game there should have been a great leap in technical quality.

Launching less than two weeks after Animal Crossing: New Horizons - the smash hit of the lockdown of 2020 - likely absorbed some of the game's target market too, dooming the game further.

Information About Planet Entertainment: