 The trouble with making a YouTube channel that reviews old video games is that you run out of really good games pretty quickly. Yes, even in the immense Super Nintendo library, you do eventually run out of games that would normally receive universal recommendations across the board. So then I got a venture into the territory of games that are still pretty good, but only in their own way. Stuff like Blackthorn, stuff like Arcana, and especially like EVO, Search for Eden. Evo, as I'm going to insist on calling it, even though it's spelled as an acronym in the game, is similar to the previous two games I mentioned, Blackthorn and Arcana, in that it's first and foremost a test of the player's patience. Are you okay with things moving slowly? Are you okay with grinding? Because that's the number one barrier for people to get by when it comes to Evo. So I'll just say right away and throw it out there, this game is really grind heavy. The payoff to all this grinding is that you get to evolve your creature. You start out as a fish swimming around, eating whatever you can find. You eat and eat and eat some more, until you're given a menu where you can choose from teeth, claws, fins, however you want to do it. Eventually you can grow legs and you can get on land, it's pretty cool. I love the principle idea behind this game, but man, the grinding does wear on you. Still, Evo dangles that carrot ahead of you as you grind, and it's tempting to just keep going just to see how your character does with its new found abilities. So needless to say, there's a lot of replay value with this game, in fact I found that the use of save states on an emulator or on a device like the Retron 5 is especially beneficial with this game, because you can skip all the grinding and go back to a previous form if you'd like to try something else, if anything just to see what your creature would look like. I really think despite the tedious grinding that that's what makes this game worth playing today. Anyway yeah, there's the role playing game elements of leveling up with experience points, but as you can see the action takes place in a 2D platforming environment. The controls behave exactly as you'd expect just from taking a glance at the game. You evolve through several different environments starting in the ocean, moving out of the Carboniferous era, the Mesozoic Age, the Ice Age, until you're a dude. Each environment has a unique map that separates everything into different levels, and of course there's boss battles, and they are really freaking tough. There's also these crystal things you'll find that can give you experience points, hints on what to do, or transform you into another creature temporarily. One feature I should mention is that the game allows you to save up to 50 creatures, so again there's more replay value there for you if you can handle the grinding. Speaking of the grinding, I said the same thing in my Arcana review, but one aspect of a game that can go a long way in making grinding a lot easier is the music, and yes, this is yet another Super Nintendo game with a superb soundtrack. This one is interesting though, because I swear everyone mistakes certain tracks for this game for something else. Like when I randomly pick intro music for a list video I do, I like to pick music from this game. I'll get questions like, is that a hidden track from Final Fantasy IV or something? Nope, it's Evo's Search for Eden. But yeah, the soundtrack is good enough to get mistaken for something done by Umatsu. I should mention there is a story in Evo, beyond all the evolution stuff I mean. I do like how it's just kind of in the background though, there's the stuff with the crystals, but it's not overbearing or anything, just kind of weird. You're created by a creature named Gaia, and there's a competition of sorts to evolve into the quote-unquote best life form so you can win Gaia's hand in marriage. Neat! Eventually when you reach the final level you find out about this thing named Bullbox, and it's gone nuts from consuming these supernatural crystals. So yeah, that's your final boss and he's not easy. So is Evo's Search for Eden worth playing today? I think it is if you know what you're getting yourself into, because there is a lot, a lot of grinding here. But like I said earlier, I think playing with save states is especially beneficial for a game like this because you can go back and forth and play with what your creature is capable of and how it looks in a much more time efficient way. Although I should make the obligatory mention that the cartridge of this game is like $200, so if you can find another way to play it, go for it. Most of all though, Evo's Search for Eden is one of the most original ideas for a 16-bit game. There's nothing else like it on any system of the era, so I think it's worth checking out just on that basis alone.