History VideoGame / PlantsVSZombies

* SummonBackupDancers: The Dancing Zombie's power.

* BigfootSasquatchAndYeti: The Yeti Zombie that only appears in the NewGamePlus for Level 4-10 and sometimes in Survival Mode.

* NewGamePlus: Once you beat [[spoiler:Dr. Zomboss]], you can start all over again with the seeds you've gathered so far -- only Crazy Dave gets to pick three of them, the second playthrough. You also unlock new mini-games, more items from Crazy Dave's shop, and the Yeti Zombie.

* CatchPhrase: Crazy Dave would like to remind you that he's CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAZY!!!

** Dr. Zomboss subverts this '''big time'''. Not only does he have perfect handwriting and grammar, he's also smart enough to build a HumongousMecha for your fight with him. Also according to his Almanac entry, he earned his Doctorate in Thanatology in only ''two years''.

* AnimateInanimateObject: Downplayed with all of the plants. Technically, plants are animate in RealLife too, but ''these'' plants are animate to the point of [[PlantPerson being sentient]].

* AnimateInanimateObject: Downplayed with all of the plants. Technically, plants are animate in RealLife too, but ''these'' plants are animate to the level of speaking human.

Yeah, it's [[WidgetSeries that kind of game]].

%%* WidgetSeries

** Zombiquarium: If all of Snorkel Zombies were died, the losing dialog box "GAME OVER (iOS/Android)/Zombiquarium (PC, DS, and console versions): All your pet zombies have perished!" will display.
** Last Stand (Puzzle Mode and Mini-game): Same as Vasebreaker Endless, but if a zombie reaches the house, the losing dialog box "GAME OVER (iOS/Android)/Last Stans (PC, DS, and console versions): You survived for {number of flags completed} flags!!" will display.

* SpiritualSuccessor: To ''VideoGame/{{Insaniquarium}}''. It actually [[http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2010/03/george-fan-how-insaniquarium-2-became-plants-vs-zombies.ars started out in development as a sequel]] to ''Insaniquarium''. This explains the appearance of Stinky the Snail and the Zombiquarium minigame.

However, the zombies won't go down easily, and are constantly thinking up new ways to breach your defenses, including screendoor shields, pylon helmets, microphones, pushing stuff, laser skulls of doom, pole vaulting and [[PunnyName zombonis]] that pave the way for an undead bobsledding team.

* CompanyCrossReferences: The ''VideoGame/{{Bejeweled}}''- and ''VideoGame/{{Insaniquarium}}''-themed minigames.
** The sound effect for getting an achievement is taken from ''VideoGame/{{Peggle}}''.

* NostalgiaLevel: The ''VideoGame/{{Bejeweled}}''- and ''VideoGame/{{Insaniquarium}}''-themed minigames.

** If you update the game regularly, this happened to the Dancing Zombie's old Music/MichaelJackson look some time in late 2009. Understandably, some fans of both MJ and ''[=PvZ=]'' refuse to update their copy for this exact reason after learning that [=PopCap=] refused to cave in to the demand of MJ's foundation to give them a cut of the game's profits and changed the Dancing Zombie's appearance to the current DiscoDan one.

** If you update the game regularly, this happened to the Music/MichaelJackson zombie some time in late 2009. Understandably, some fans of both MJ and ''[=PvZ=]'' refuse to update their copy for this exact reason after learning that Popcap refused to cave in to the demand of MJ's foundation to give them a cut of the game's profits and replaced the MJ zombie with the DiscoDan Zombie.

** Dr. Zomboss subverts this '''big time'''. Not only does he have perfect handwriting and grammar, he is also smart enough to build a HumongousMecha for your fight with him. Also according to his almanac entry, he earned his Doctorate in Thanatology in only ''two years''.

** The FlavorText of the Zomboni's article in the Almanac was originally a standard humorous snippet like the rest. For the GOTY Edition, it replaced the original description with a lengthy copyright article about how the Zomboni is in no way related to the Zamboni and that players interested in buying a Zamboni for themselves should visit the official website.

** A zombie that [[ShoutOut dances and spawns four others that follow it]]. If you hit Dancing Zombie with a Hypno Shroom, he becomes ''your'' Mook Maker.

* MultipleHeadCase: Split Pea and Threepeater play with this trope. According to the Almanac, Split Pea's second "head" is actually a large, head-like growth on the back of his own; and Threepeater, despite having three heads, is implied to have only one brain, [[NonIndicativeName and has little if anything else in his nature to do with the number "3".]]

** The final backyard night level takes place during a storm. The only time you can see is when lightning flashes.
** The fog levels make 1/3 to 1/2 of the stage invisible, though you can sort of make out what's coming in the top and bottom rows. {{Downplayed}} when you consider that Blovers, Planterns, and Torchwood can clear the fog.

* PlantMooks: your plant army is essentially this, as they're deployed against invading zombies.
* PinataEnemy: In literal terms: Typing in ''piñata'' in the first game, causes every killed zombie to drop candy.[[note]]The Tree of Wisdom has to be 1000 ft before you can do this.[[/note]]

* PunBasedCreature: Wallnuts are used as walls. Peashooters shoot peas. Sunflowers produce sun. Starfruit shot stars in a star pattern.

** The closing description of the Zomboni's article in the Almanac was originally a standard humorous snippet like the rest. For the GOTY Edition, it replaced the original description with a lengthy copyright article about how the Zomboni is in no way related to the Zamboni and that players interested in buying a Zamboni for themselves should visit the official website.

* ManlyTears: The Tall-nut. Garlic also gets them after being chewed on long enough.

* MonsterCompendium: The Suburban Almanac, which includes information on both plants and zombies.

** But mind you: some zombies, most notably the Zomboni, the Jack-in-the-Box Zombie, the Bungee Zombie, the [[GiantMook Gargantuar]] and [[spoiler:the [[HumongousMecha Final Boss]]]] are also able to do this to your plants! In terms of resistance, the Gargantuar takes 2 normal OneHitKill plants to die (or 4 for the Giga-Gargantuar which appears only in Survival mode), and Spikerocks can take 9 hits from a Gargantuar or vehicles.

* OneHitPolykill: Fume-shroom and Gloom-shroom can hit all targets in range.

** The Dancing Zombie originally looked almost exactly like Music/MichaelJackson from his ''Music/{{Thriller}}'' music video (even including a joke about it in the Alamanac), but was later changed to a more generic DiscoDan design in the GOTY Edition.
** The Zomboni article in the Almanac was originally a standard humorous snippet like the rest. For the GOTY Edition, it replaced the original description with a lengthy copyright article about how the Zomboni is in no way related to the Zamboni and that players interested in buying a Zamboni for themselves should visit the official website.

** Also used in the final battle against the Zombot. It fires giant balls of ice or fire, and you have Ice-Shrooms and Jalapeños to combat.

* EvilOnlyHasToWinOnce: The zombies only need to get into your house once to eat your brains (okay, technically they have to win twice, defining "win" as "reach the house". The first time a lawnmower will take the zombie, and everything else in that row, out).

** There's an achievement for completing a night-time level without using Shrooms, which can be quite difficult. However, you can also earn it by [[spoiler:completing any "I, Zombie" level, which are set at night and don't involve Shrooms.]] It should be noted, however, that the chance of ending up in a Shroom-less "I, Zombie" level is extremely low. Additionally, this exploit seems to have been corrected for the Steam release.

* InstantBandages: These progressively appear on the Gargantuar as it takes damage.

** But as for the plant's side, there's the Melon-pult, which lobs a watermelon, can damage a large group of zombies and packs a heavy punch on the one it intentionally lands on (meaning it can defeat the Newspaper, Screen Door, and Pole Vaulting Zombie with ease) and reloads quickly enough to keep delivering heavy blows. The upgrade for this plant can freeze ''groups'' of zombies, as opposed to the Snow Pea's single shots. [[YouRequireMoreVespeneGas Of course, it costs a total of 500 Sun to get]]...

** Zomboni-driving zombies are always inevitably followed by a team of bobsled riders.

* {{Multishot}}: The Threepeater can shoot three shots at once, though it is a plant that has [[MultipleHeadCase three heads]].

* NewGamePlus: [[spoiler:Once you beat Dr. Zomboss, you can start all over again with the seeds you've gathered so far -- only Crazy Dave gets to pick three of them, the second playthrough.]] You also unlock new mini-games, more items from Crazy Dave's shop, and the Yeti Zombie.

* NightOfTheLivingMooks: ''Every single enemy'' that your plants fight is a zombie. Well, except for Zomboni, who's a space ogre that often hangs out with zombies and is frequently confused with them. Also, [[spoiler:robots aren't zombies. But the guy piloting it is definitely one]].

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: The Dancing Zombie's bio. He, by all accounts, looks like [[Music/MichaelJackson some Pop artist who made The Moonwalk famous]]. Made more sense back before the change to DiscoDan.

** Puff-Shrooms. They have limited range and low damage output, but they don't cost anything and they recharge fast. They're indispensable in night levels, as they allow you to keep zombies at bay while you gather enough sun-sources to bring out the big guns... erh, plants.

* AnimateInanimateObject: Downplayed. All of the plants. Well, technically, plants are animate in RealLife too, but ''these'' plants are animate to the level of speaking human.

* AffablyEvil: The zombies. They even send you notes, although they turn up a little late. And when you win, [[spoiler:they decide to make a music video with you instead. And then [[StatusQuoIsGod get back to invading your lawn]]]].

** ANY story mission after you beat the game once. After that, you start at the beginning, but Crazy Dave forces three random plants into your setup. Now, this doesn't sound so bad at first, but it will completely ruin any strategy you've developed by the endgame, which typically use all the available slots. What makes this worse is that simply going back to the menu and coming back to Story won't give you three more random plants, just the same three. So, to try your luck with the three random plants, you have to close the game, then launch it again. The DS version is even worse--closing the game won't work, you have to shut the system off completely.

** Some of your plants, namely the Cherry Bomb, Potato Mine, Squash, Doom-Shroom, Tangle Kelp, Jalapeño, Chomper and Cob Cannon are capable of killing almost all types of enemies in one hit. But mind you: some of the enemies, most notably [[spoiler:the [[HumongousMecha Final Boss]], the Zombonis, the [[NightmareFuel Jack-in-the-Box zombies]], the [[GoddamnedBats Bungee Zombies]] and [[GiantMook Gargantuar]]]] are also able to do this to your plants! In terms of resistance, the Gargantuar takes 2 normal OneHitKill plants to die (or 4 for the Giga-Gargantuar which appears only in Survival mode), and Spikerocks can take 9 hits from a Gargantuar or vehicles.
** Balloon Zombies suffer this if a Blover is planted or if they are over water and there's a Cactus in their lane.

* OurImpsAreDifferent: The Imp is the smallest and weakest zombie in the game, seen riding on the back of the massive Gargantuar, and even being thrown by it into your plant defenses.

** The Dancing Zombie originally looked almost exactly like Music/MichaelJackson from his ''Music/{{Thriller}}'' music video (even including a joke about it in the Alamanac), but was later changed to a more generic design in the GOTY Edition.

* PopTheTires: You can pop the tires of the vehicle based Zomboni and the Catapult Zombie by planting a [[SpikesOfDoom Spikeweed/Spikerock]] in its track. For some reason, this does not only pop the tires, but also make ''[[MadeOfExplodium the entire vehicle blow up]]''.

* RequiredPartyMember: In the first game's NewGamePlus, Crazy Dave will choose 3 random plants for you to use per level that you can't unselect.