"Brainz..."
"The zombies are coming!"
Plants vs. Zombies Pinball is a 2012 Digital Pinball Table by Zen Studios for their Zen Pinball and Pinball FX platforms.
As expected, this game is a Pinball Spin-Off of the popular Plants vs. Zombies Video Game. Dr. Zomboss' zombies are shambling down the lanes and attacking your Welcome Mat, so destroy them with judicious shots of the pinball. Collect enough Sun to buy various plant seeds, then use them to infuse your pinball with offensive and defensive powers. Pop the Jack-in-the-Box for random rewards, or go shopping from Crazy Dave's for the really good stuff. If you can complete enough Main Missions, you'll get to go against Dr. Zomboss himself, who's waiting with an arsenal of ice balls, fireballs, and zombies.
Plants vs. Zombies Pinball provides examples of the following tropes:
- Abnormal Ammo: The Melonpult, which launches watermelons.
- The Announcer: The Sunflower.
- Big "NO!": Occurs whenever you drain a ball.
- Bucket Helmet: The Buckethead zombies wear buckets on their heads, and require an extra hit to destroy.
- Combos: Several rewards, like the Fertilizer Bonus, come from accomplishing certain combos.
- Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors: You fight Dr. Zomboss in the Wizard Mode by destroying his ice or fire projectiles with its opposite element.
- Fireballs: You can turn pinballs into these.
- Fog of War: The "Going Nutz" mission covers most of the playfield with a large white fog cloud.
- Gatling Good: The Gatling Pea has this effect.
- Goomba Stomp: Plant a squash, and any zombie that steps on it gets... Squashed.
- Hurricane of Puns: Almost every one of the sunflower's lines is a pun.
- Kill It with Fire:
- The Torchwood Pea, which sets your pinball on fire.
- The Jalapeno sets a lane on fire, burning all zombies in it.
- Kill It with Ice: The Snowpea turns your pinball into an ice ball.
- Lampshade Wearing: Some of the zombies wear traffic cones on their heads, which give them extra protection.
- Level Grinding: Many of the bonuses and modes are only available after repeatedly shooting the same target or ramp.
- Lightning Bruiser: The football zombie from the "Zombies Love Football" mission dashes back and forth to block your ramp shots.
- Mini-Game
- Shooting the Challenge Sink Hole four times starts a Challenge Level, which gives you a time limit to destroy a certain number of zombies.
- The Melonpult mode, where you launch melons at zombies.
- Money Spider: The zombies drop coins when they get killed.
- Post-End Game Content: Beating Dr. Zomboss resets the game status, but all of the zombies become slightly harder to kill.
- Skill Shot: At the beginning of each ball, a snorkeling zombie will randomly appear in the pond; do a soft launch so the ball lands on its head for 500,000 points.
- Hit another zombie at the mail ramp after the Skill Shot to score the Super Skill Shot.
- Spelling Bonus: Spelling S-U-N starts the Sun Frenzy, C-R-A-Z-Y gets Crazy Dave to drive his car onto the playfield, and B-R-A-I-N-Z starts the Brainz Main Missions.
- Stuff Blowing Up: The Potato mines and Cherry Bombs.
- Summon Backup Dancers: Done during the "Gotta Dance" multiball mode.
- Timed Mission: The Challenge Levels.
- Wizard Mode: This is a showdown with Dr. Zomboss, where waves of zombies will march forward while he attacks with balls of ice or fire. Destroy four of his attacks with the opposite element, then shoot Zomboss to defeat him. This awards Victory Mode, a three-ball multiball frenzy.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
