Sun is a type of resource in the Plants vs. Zombies series that the player needs to build up their defenses (and zombies in I, Zombie levels). It is essential for creating defenses against zombies. It falls from the sky (daytime levels only) and is produced by sun plants. It is the plants' equivalent to brains.
Sun is obtained from sun-producing plants, such as the Sunflower, Twin Sunflower, and Sun-shroom, and falls from the sky approximately every 10 seconds when it is daytime. Sun Bean also has sun producing effects but, unlike other sun producing plants, he does not directly produce sun: instead causing the zombie that ate him to burst out tiny sun for every damage the zombie takes. Toadstool acts differently too, with her producing sun after consuming a zombie. The player starts every ordinary level with 50 sun (more if the player has the extra sun Power Ups or is using the Sun Bank Penny Perk in Penny's Pursuit), which is enough for one Sunflower or two Sun-shrooms. During the Night, Fog, and Dark Ages levels, sun producers are the only way to obtain sun, so these plants must be planted to obtain more than the starting 50 sun. Sunflowers produce one normal sun at a time, Twin Sunflowers produce two normal sun at a time, and Sun-shrooms produce small sun until they grow, after which they produce normal sun, growing once more to produce big sun in Plants vs. Zombies 2. Additionally, in Whack a Zombie, Zombiquarium, and Last Stand, zombies can drop sun.
Conveyor-belt levels[]
The player cannot obtain any sun in these levels. Instead, they are supplied with plants that come up from a conveyor belt, which do not cost any sun. However, the player can't use their own plants, as the plants are previously picked and the order of plants to come is random. However, in Modern Day - Day 34 and Modern Day - Day 44, if the player uses Plant Food on Moonflower (who is provided to boost the shadow plants in the level), she will still produce sun, although it will fade immediately.
Produced when a zombie that has eaten a Sun Bean takes damage, usually in large groups, or when a high-leveled sun-producing plant, e.g. Moonflower, produces sun.
It is worth 5 sun.
It can also be produced by shoveling some plants with the shovel refund upgrade, providing 25-75% of the plant's original sun cost. The maximum amount of sun refund possible without purchasing with real money is 50%, and an additional 25% is available for USD $3.99.
Free plants will never drop tiny sun, as they do not cost any sun to plant, and plants before Last Stand waves are started will instead reward 100% of the original cost, regardless of already existent sun refunds.
In the Chinese Version, this can also worth 1 sun, this is obtainable through Sun Bean or shoveling plants with 25 or 75 in their sun costs assuming the player has maxed shovel refunds.
Small sun[]
Produced by Sun-shrooms at small size and Moonflowers without nearby shadow plants.
Dropped by #caketank when its third layer is removed.
It is worth 25 sun.
Normal sun[]
Produced by Sunflowers, Twin Sunflowers (in groups of two), Gold Blooms, by Sun-shrooms grown to medium size, a Toadstool swallowing a zombie, a Moonflower powered by one or three (two sun are given at once) shadow plants next to it, a Gold Tile, Solar Tomato when she stuns a zombie, Shine Vine, Solar Sage via Enlightened Zombies, and zombies trapped by Sundew Tangler or Enlighten-mint.
Falls from the sky in every world except for Dark Ages, even though it is technically night in Neon Mixtape Tour.
It is worth 50 sun (25 before the 1.7 update).
It can also appear after digging up some plants with shovel refund upgrades.
Large sun[]
Produced by fully-grown Sun-shrooms, Primal Sunflowers, a Moonflower powered by two shadow plants next to it, or Gold Blooms.
It is worth 75 sun.
Sun bombs[]
Sun bombs fall from the sky in Sun Bombs. They are purple until they touch the ground, after then it reverts to normal sun. If the sun bomb is tapped while it is still purple, any plants or zombies nearby will take damage, the sun bomb disappears, and the player will not be given any sun.
In Survival: Endless, the sun cost of each upgrade plant will increase by 50 for every one of those planted. For example, the player's first Cattail will cost 225 sun, but their second Cattail will cost 275 sun.
Plants vs. Zombies: Endless Edition(Archived content)(China only)[]
Seeing Stars is a good way to max out the player's sun. If the player uses Garlic and Spikeweeds, along with a couple of Threepeaters, they can have all of the incoming zombies dying automatically with minimal effort, only needing to replenish a Garlic in the middle row. The rest of the empty squares can be filled with Sunflowers and they can collect sun without worrying about being overrun.
However, in the Far Future trailer of Plants vs. Zombies 2, Tile Turnip's cost was shown at 64,000 sun. It is impossible for the player to do so without hacking. The maximum sun the player can collect is 9900, but Tile Turnip needs to be planted with 32,000 sun before the sun cost doubles twice to 64,000.
This is probably because when PopCap is testing new plants, they have a developer mode that gives them infinite sun, no recharge and unlimited Plant Food.
However, in the Chinese version, the player can achieve that sun cost, due to the new max sun amount increase, though it is very hard to accomplish.
In Plants vs. Zombies, Survival: Endless levels and Co-op Endless are the only levels where the cost of plants rises (the cost of upgrade plants rising for every one of each type currently planted on the lawn).
In Versus Mode, the zombie's currency is brains which works the same as sun. However, in I, Zombie, players can collect sun by eating Sunflowers. That is peculiar since zombies need brains, not sun like plants.
In Last Stand puzzles and Last Stand in Plants vs. Zombies 2, the player can get back the sun cost of a plant (unless it is visibly damaged).
Sun can be 3 colors. Regular sun is yellow, sun being stolen by Ra Zombie is red, and sun being stolen from Turquoise Skull Zombie is light blue.
Sun Bombs are purple, so technically, sun can be 4 colors.
Before the 1.8 update, sun in the Chinese version was worth 25, whereas the international is worth 50, making the Chinese version harder.
The sun in Peggle Nights
Sun with its Plants vs. Zombies design appears in the title screen of Peggle Nights, another game made by PopCap Games. However, it was a long time before Plants vs. Zombies was announced, meaning this could have been a teaser for the game while it was early in development.
In the Chinese version, digging up a plant in a conveyor-belt level with a sun refund upgrade will still create sun.
In the Chinese version, the sun will be picked automatically when it touches the ground, unlike the international version, provided the player had a monthly in-app purchase.