Sun Shine

Sun Shine is an unreleased 1990 tile-matching puzzle Arcade video game that was in development by Alpha Denshi and planned to be published by SNK for both the Neo Geo MVS (Arcade) and Neo Geo AES (home) platforms. It is notable for being the first puzzle game to be developed for both systems, as well as holding the distinction of being the smallest Neo Geo title made in terms of memory data.

Overview
Taking place in Paradise Island where looming severe weather threatens to disrupt the climate of the tropical location, players assume command of a dish that contains the Sun's transferred power in order to repel the incoming storms and restore the island to normal. Its gameplay consists of title-matching, with a main two-button configuration and featuring two playable modes. The Block Paradise revision of the game reworks the main mechanics, as now players have a target to shoot at the puzzle pieces, making them fall faster and rotating them when shot twice.

History
Sun Shine was among one of the first twelve titles to be developed for the Neo Geo hardware alongside other projects by Alpha Denshi such as Magician Lord  and Ninja Combat. The project was the first puzzle title created for Neo Geo and at only 18 megabits of data, it is also the smallest game developed for the platform compared with SNK's own Puzzled. Although its production number during development remains unknown, it is generally believed to be assigned with the number 8.

The game was first playable during a location test in Japan on July 1990 at Ikebukuru Sunshine Underground Gorilla, where it was met with a less than enthusiastic response from players. It was later showcased in a playable state to attendees of Winter CES 1991 and was previewed on few magazines such as Electronic Gaming Monthly and Gamest, suggesting that the title was still planned for release. Despite being completed and ready for publication, it was ultimately shelved for unknown reasons, however several possible factors have been given as to why the title was never published in recent years. ADK would attempt to salvage the project twice; first with Block Paradise and later with Fun Fun Bros, but neither of these revisions would end released as well, as the project ended ultimately shelved.

On January 2003, a official promotional flyer of Sun Shine that was printed for arcade distributors and operators on October 1990 was discovered online at Yahoo! Auctions in Japan. In January 2005, emulated screenshots from a prototype cartridge of Block Paradise also surfaced online, indicating that the ROM image of the game has been preserved but not made widely available to public.