E.V.O.: The Search for Eden is an action-adventure sidescroller released in 1993 for the SNES. You traverse through levels, battling other creatures for EVO Points which can be used to evolve your creature. You traverse through time with the help of Gaia, who is the sun's daughter... but who cares about the plot, show me the silly creatures!
There are 6 main body types correlated to each chapter. 
These are fish, amphibian, reptile, bird, mammal, and
ramothecus/human. Body type changes after the reptile stage are optional, and you can revert back to older saved forms unless you become a human. There are additional extra powerful body types which cannot be freely
customized and can be used for limited amounts of time. This includes the ray, eel, dragon, gargoyle, elephant, and the secret mermaid. Parts that are evolved can be advantagous or disadvantageous, depending on the
player's strategy.
I had discovered E.V.O. as a kid, but never got too far into it due the game being too difficult. However I went back to playing it in 2019, and finally beat it three years later in 2022 after getting stuck on the final boss. (I promise the final boss is relatively easy, I'm just not a good gamer boy!)
Some quotes from me trying to beat Bolbox:
«Do you have any idea how many tigers I've eaten?!»
«Do I eat the baby or not?»
«AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHGH»
«Holy Fuck This Fucking Fish»
«oh my fucking. god. oh my god. i hate this fucking fish.»
«FUCKING COCKROACH OH MY GOD»
«YOUR GOOD LUCK KISSES DO NOTHING!!! I'M GONNA GET YOU FOR THIS!»
«I wanna kiss the Bolbox.»
My favourite boss from E.V.O. is the Bird-King. He is the king of the Bird-men, and you can find him hidden away in Fort Bird-man. E.V.O. has been criticized for it's somewhat choppy artstyle, and while I can agree with some of it, the Bird-King is one of the best sprites in the game. I just really love his design, I even have him on a shirt. :o)
My absolute least favourite is the Giant Zinichthys that Bolbox spawns. I just had a lot of difficulty hitting it and dodging it's attacks. However I managed to beat it by abusing minor evolutions. (Evolving replenishes health, so by evolving and unevolving a low cost evolution you can heal during a battle)
These days, cartridges and other official items related to E.V.O. Search for Eden have become incredibly expensive. Pricecharting.com lists loose cartridges for approx. $300, and a full graded set goes for up to approx. $2250! As much as I'd love to get a hold of a cartridge, the price turns me off to the idea.
E.V.O. Search for Eden is actually a sequel. It's predecessor is known as 46 Okunen Monagatari: The Shinka Ron; or in an English fan translation, E.V.O.: The Theory of Evolution. It focuses more on RPG and story aspects. As much as I'd love to play the fan translation, I cannot figure out the emulator for the life of me! Maybe I'll get around to it one day.
