E.V.O.: Search for Eden is a Super Nintendo Entertainment System game developed by Almanic and published by Enix about a character whose goal is to evolve into the dominant life form on Earth and live in Eden where Gaia, a goddess personification of earth, lives.

E.V.O. tells the saga of life's evolution on Earth, with a subtext of a creation myth. The player takes the role of one of many billions of life-forms created by Gaia, the nurturing and benevolent daughter of Sol (aka God, personified as the sun). Among the creatures known as "life", there is a competition to evolve, and the greatest life-form will eventually be granted the privilege of entering the Garden of Eden and becoming the husband and partner of Gaia.

The story takes place over 5 stages of life's evolution: the Age of Fish, the Age of Amphibians, the Age of Dinosaurs, the Age of Mammals, and finally the Age of Eden.

E.V.O. is a side-scrolling platform game with role playing elements. Your character has two basic moves: a jump and a melee attack (usually some form of bite), though mammals also have a "kick" option to attack enemies behind them. By eating defeated enemies, players gain "Evolution points" that can be used to modify the creature they are playing as. These improvements include bigger jaws, scales, horns, fins, longer neck, jumping ability, swimming ability, flying ability and more. By evolving, your character gains more hit points, greater speed, stronger attacks, and even certain special abilities such as flight.

There are also four types of crystals. Yellow crystals give tips and reveal points of the story. Red crystals allow the main character to morph into special powerful creatures that can be recorded in the evolution log so that they may be called upon later via Green crystals. (One notable addition about Red crystals is that the resultant form is quite different depending on the body size of the player at the time.) Green crystals, of which the character may only possess one of at any given time, allow your creature to revert to a past, perhaps more powerful form. Blue crystals grant the player an unusually large amount of evolution points. These points can then be spent on various improvements to customize the main character.

The game uses a hub system similar to Super Mario World, with each level consisting of a single overhead map from which the player can choose a variety of stages to play. As the player completes stages within the map, new areas are unlocked for them to explore.