Video games used to be weirder. Seriously. Before every major release was a live-service hero shooter with a battle pass, we had the era of the "B-tier" handheld game. In 2010, Ubisoft released Battle of Giants Mutant Insects for the Nintendo DS, and honestly, it remains one of the most specific, bizarre artifacts of that hardware's lifecycle. It wasn't a masterpiece. It wasn't trying to be The Legend of Zelda. It was just a game about giant, glowing, radioactive bugs hitting each other in a post-apocalyptic wasteland.
And yet, people still look for it. They look for it because it tapped into a very primal, "Saturday morning cartoon" energy that modern gaming often takes too seriously.
What Battle of Giants Mutant Insects Actually Was
If you missed the DS era, or if your copy is currently gathering dust in a garage, here is the vibe. The world has been wrecked by an asteroid. Nature decided to go in a very different direction, and suddenly, insects are the size of houses. You pick a starting bug—a Scorpion, a Spider, a Winged Insect, or a Beetle—and you set out to be the apex predator.
It was developed by Ubisoft Quebec. This is the same studio that eventually gave us Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and Immortals Fenyx Rising. Seeing their DNA in a budget DS title about mutant stag beetles is kind of hilarious, but you can actually feel the ambition. They didn't just want to make a rock-paper-scissors fighter; they wanted a customization-heavy RPG for kids who liked gross stuff.
The gameplay loop was simple. You explore a top-down environment, find "Gems," and fight other mutants. The combat was rhythmic. You had to time your attacks based on colored rings, which felt a bit like a primitive version of the combat systems we see in modern rhythm-action games. It was tactile. It used the stylus. It was very "DS."
The Customization Trap
Most people remember the "Mutant" part of Battle of Giants Mutant Insects more than the actual battles. Why? Because the customization was surprisingly deep for a 2010 handheld title.
You weren't just changing colors. You were swapping out legs, carapaces, and stingers. Each part had different stats. If you wanted a Spider that was basically a tank, you could do that. If you wanted a Scorpion that looked like it was made of translucent neon glass, that was also an option. There were over 50 different parts for each insect type. For a kid in the early 2010s, this was digital LEGO but with more venom.
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But here is the thing: the game was notoriously grindy.
To get the best parts, you had to play through the "Adventure Mode" repeatedly. It wasn't particularly difficult, but it required patience. You’d find yourself wandering through the "Burned Forest" or the "Desert of Silence," looking for that one specific Golden Gem. It was a loop that worked because the payoff—a glowing, spiked-out mutant—felt earned.
Why the "Giants" Franchise Disappeared
Ubisoft actually had a whole "Battle of Giants" (known as Combat de Géants in some regions) brand going for a while. They had dinosaurs. They had dragons. They even had "Mutant Insects" on the Wii, though the DS version is generally considered the "purer" experience because the stylus controls felt more integrated than the waggle-heavy Wii movements.
So, what happened?
The market shifted. By 2012, the 3DS was taking over, and the mobile gaming explosion on iOS and Android was killing the market for $30 niche handheld titles. If you wanted to play a simple creature-battler, you could do it for free on your mom's iPhone. The "B-game" died out. Ubisoft pivoted toward massive open-world franchises that could sell 10 million copies. A game about a radioactive grasshopper just didn't fit the quarterly earnings report anymore.
Technical Quirks and the DS Hardware
Technically, the game pushed the DS. The 3D models were chunky, sure. We are talking about low-polygon counts and pixelated textures that look like a mosaic if you stare too long. But the art direction saved it. By leaning into the "Mutant" aesthetic, Ubisoft masked the hardware limitations with bright, neon colors and high-contrast environments.
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The game also utilized the DS wireless capabilities for 4-player duels. Finding three other people who also owned Battle of Giants Mutant Insects in the wild was like finding a four-leaf clover, but if you did, the "Tournament Mode" was surprisingly competitive. There was a meta. Certain beetle builds were objectively broken because of their defense stats, but a fast enough winged insect could sometimes kite them.
It was "My First Fighting Game" for a whole generation.
Common Misconceptions About the Gameplay
A lot of people remember this game being "open world." It really wasn't.
It used a "Fog of War" mechanic that made the maps feel huge, but they were actually quite linear. You were essentially moving from one arena to the next. Also, many players get the "Mutant Insects" title confused with the "Dinosaurs" version. While they share the same engine, the Insect version introduced more complex status effects—poison, paralysis, and confusion—which made the combat slightly more strategic than just smashing buttons.
How to Play It Today (Legally and Practically)
If you are looking to revisit this, you have a few hurdles.
- Original Hardware: The DS is region-free, so you can pick up a copy from anywhere. It plays perfectly on a 3DS or a 2DS, though the 3D upscaling can make those old pixels look a bit blurry.
- The "New" Price: Interestingly, these games haven't skyrocketed in price like Pokémon titles. You can usually find a loose cartridge for under $15. It’s one of the few "retro" games that hasn't been hit by the massive inflation of the collector market.
- The Wii Port: Avoid it unless you really love motion controls. The DS version’s stylus input for drawing "Combat Runes" is much more responsive.
Actionable Steps for Collectors and Fans
If you're hunting for a copy or trying to 100% your old save file, keep these specific tips in mind to save yourself a headache:
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Prioritize the Beetle or Scorpion for first-time runs.
The Spider is cool, but its health pool is frustratingly low in the early game. The Beetle’s "Charge" attack is basically a cheat code for the first three bosses. It allows you to bypass a lot of the timing-based frustration when you're still learning the rhythm.
Don't ignore the "Golden Gems."
It's tempting to rush to the next boss, but the Golden Gems are what unlock the "Elite" body parts. If you reach the final area without at least 70% of these found, you will be massively underpowered for the final encounter.
Check the "Arena" mode for easy grinding.
If you're struggling to afford a specific upgrade, don't just wander the map. Replaying the Arena challenges provides a much higher "Gem per minute" ratio than the standard exploration.
Clean your DS screen.
Seriously. This game requires fast, precise stylus swipes. If you have a screen protector from 2011 that's covered in scratches, you're going to miss your Combat Rune inputs and lose matches you should have won.
The legacy of Battle of Giants Mutant Insects isn't that it was a "hidden gem" or a "forgotten masterpiece." It was just a solid, creative use of the DS hardware that didn't treat its young audience like they were stupid. It offered complexity, weirdness, and the ability to turn a cockroach into a glowing god of war. In the current landscape of gaming, that kind of specific, unpretentious fun is harder to find than you'd think.