Newspaper Zombie


 * For other uses, see Newspaper Zombie (disambiguation).

Newspaper Zombie is a zombie encountered in both main series Plants vs. Zombies games. In Plants vs. Zombies, he is the first new zombie encountered in the Night stage, and the sixth zombie overall encountered in Adventure Mode. He reads a newspaper that he holds upside-down, acting as a shield for this zombie.

When the player's plants destroy the newspaper he holds, he pauses, a question mark briefly appears above his head, and then he will make an angry sound and expression, then quickly charge forward at the player's plants in a rage. Lobbed-shot plants, Fume-shrooms, Gloom-shrooms, and flaming peas damage both the zombie and the newspaper at the same time.

He returns in the sequel as the first new zombie encountered in Modern Day. His abilities remain the same, but now he and his newspaper have significantly higher health and speed than the first game, and when enraged he can run and eat much faster. He also has an upgrade version which has more health.

Plants vs. Zombies
 NEWSPAPER ZOMBIE 

His newspaper provides limited defense.

Toughness: low

Newspaper Toughness: low

Speed: normal, then fast (after losing newspaper)

Newspaper Zombie was *this* close to finishing his Sudoku puzzle. No wonder he's freaking out.

Plants vs. Zombies
The Newspaper Zombie absorbs 340 damage per shot and his appearance changes upon absorbing 60, 120, 160 (when the newspaper is destroyed), and 260 before dying at 340 damage per shot. When the newspaper is destroyed, this zombie will start to run faster due to his destroyed newspaper.

Plants vs. Zombies 2
The Newspaper Zombie absorbs 1230 damage per shot and his appearance changes upon absorbing 270, 540, 800 (when the newspaper is destroyed), and 1015 (when his arm is lost) before dying at 1230 damage per shot. When the newspaper is destroyed, this zombie will start to run and eat plants four times faster due to his destroyed newspaper.

Plants vs. Zombies 2 (Chinese version)
Unlike the International Version, the Newspaper Zombie was very different. Before the 2.2.1 update, no matter when his newspaper is destroyed, his speed is similar. The same formerly applied to the Sunday Edition Zombie.

Plants vs. Zombies​

 * Adventure Mode: 2-1, 2-2, 3-2, 3-4, 3-5 (DS, DSi), 5-10
 * Mini-games: Wall-nut Bowling, It's Raining Seeds, Beghouled, Beghouled Twist, Last Stand, Wall-nut Bowling 2, Dr. Zomboss's Revenge, Buttered Popcorn, BOMB All Together!
 * Puzzle Mode: Last Stand: Night, Last Stand: Fog, Last Stand Endless
 * Survival Mode: all levels
 * Co-op Mode: all levels except Co-op Day and Co-op Bowling
 * Others: Versus Mode

Plants vs. Zombies 2

 * Player's House: Piñata Party
 * Far Future: Piñata Party
 * Jurassic Marsh: Piñata Party
 * Modern Day: Days 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 11, 13, 17-31, 35, 36, 39, 40, 44, Highway to the Danger Room and "Rescue the Gold Bloom" Epic Quest - Step 1

Plants vs. Zombies​
The newspaper is useless against lobbed-shot plants, instant kills, Fume-shroom, and Gloom-shroom because they can bypass his newspaper. Spikeweed and Spikerock also makes his newspaper useless by attacking below him. The back head of Split Pea can also be used as it hits the behind of the zombie himself. In Wall-nut Bowling and Wall-nut Bowling 2, the zombie loses the newspaper after being hit by one Wall-nut, and dies after a second hit, like the Conehead Zombie. The Newspaper Zombie pauses and charges very quickly towards the end of the row after the player's plants destroy the newspaper, the player will need to be fast in order to kill him. Snow Pea, Winter Melon, or Ice-shroom are effective against this, as they can slow his movement, leaving plenty of time to kill him. If the player is facing multiple Newspaper Zombies, Ice-shrooms can be used effectively to paralyze and kill them, or the player could just use lobbed-shot plants (preferably Melon-pult or Winter Melon).

Plants vs. Zombies 2
Watch out for this zombie since he is a much bigger threat. Do not destroy his newspaper unless you think you have a good strategy to deal with him while he is enraged. Also, unlike the first game, lobbed-shot plants and area of effect plants will still destroy the newspaper first so you need to be careful when using them. However, Snow Pea, Winter Melon, Cold Snapdragon and Missile Toe are good choices as they can slow him down and allow more damage to be dealt against this zombie. Kernel-pult's butter, Primal Peashooter and Apple Mortar can also be helpful as they can stun or knock back the Newspaper Zombie so that this zombie is slightly easier to deal with. Chard Guard and Hurrikale can also give you more time to destroy him. The most effective plants are Shadow-shroom, Chomper, Toadstool, and Chili Bean, as they can kill him ignoring the newspaper. Jack O' Lanterns are also useful as their flame trail can destroy Newspaper Zombie in one shot. It is a good idea to combine this plant with Sweet Potato so that it can destroy groups of these zombies. Explode-o-nut and Hot Date are also good choices as they can destroy him instantly once eaten. On large groups instant kills are a must. Up to three attacks from Magnifying Grass can also kill one of them without him being enraged.

Without the use of Plant Food, Hypno-shrooms are surprisingly effective against the Newspaper Zombie. When Newspaper Zombie loses his newspaper whilst hypnotized, he will get angry and kill any zombie on the lane very quickly from his increased biting speed. However, it should be noted that this strategy is only effective on lanes with large amounts of zombies, and many zombies at once can overwhelm it. Using Sweet Potato or Garlic can lure more zombies on the same lane as the hypnotized Newspaper Zombie. Immobilizing or slowing plants such as Stunion or Stallia can also be effective so that the hypnotized Newspaper Zombie does not die quickly when biting them.

Note: Using catapult plants like Cabbage-pults, Blooming Hearts, A.K.E.E.s and Spore-shrooms (unless fed with Plant Food) are a very bad idea against Newspaper Zombies when they are enraged as they can easily destroy the catapults due to their slow attack speed. This is because they do not have stalling or slowing abilities that can allow the Newspaper Zombie to take more damage. In addition, their firing speed is 3x slower than a Peashooter and the Newspaper Zombie's speed is fast which will cause the projectiles to miss the zombie. Bloomerangs, Bowling Bulbs and Nightshades (unless fed with Plant Food) are also useless as they have a very slow firing rate as well and the Newspaper Zombie eats plants up very quickly. Electric Blueberry and Homing Thistle are also bad choices as it is unpredictable of which zombie they will target, especially if there are many enraged Newspaper Zombies charging towards the player's house. Also, avoid using Citrons as the Newspaper Zombie will kill it before they can fire another plasma ball because it takes 10 seconds to recharge. Intensive Carrot and Witch Hazel are not a good choice as he will quickly destroy the recovered plants and Puff-shrooms that were spawned. Spring Beans are also ineffective as they only bounce him back one tile and requires time to recharge. Do not use them unless you are using a Spring Bean + Blover strategy.

General

 * When its newspaper is rotated 180 degrees, the newspaper's front cover is really the back cover, and thus, the title is at the end.

Specific to Plants vs. Zombies

 * Newspaper Zombie has the second lowest physical health out of all the zombies in the first game (only the Imps in I, Zombie are weaker, since they only take three normal damage shots). He itself has nine health points and his newspaper also has eight health points, making his total amount of hit points seventeen.
 * Newspaper Zombie's glasses are available in the Xbox Live Marketplace for 80 Microsoft Points.
 * When Newspaper Zombie's head falls off, it is a regular Zombie's, not his own. He shares this with Jack-in-the-Box Zombie. However his glasses will still appear falling off.
 * If Newspaper Zombie bites a Garlic and loses his newspaper right after, he will bite the Garlic a second time before switching lanes.
 * If Newspaper Zombie bites a Garlic after losing his newspaper, he will not make his angry expression and he will instead move fast with a normal face.
 * When the player enters somewhere else and Plants vs. Zombies is still running, when they come back Newspaper Zombie will appear above the "Resume Game" tab.
 * If a Newspaper Zombie gets hit by a Lawn Mower or a Giant Wall-nut, a question mark will appear over his head for a brief moment, as the newspaper gets destroyed before the zombie himself.
 * The title of the newspaper is "ZOMBIE," and there is also a picture of a head on it.
 * There is a glitch on the DS version that sometimes when the Newspaper Zombie loses his newspaper, he will suddenly run on a spot instead of looking down with a question mark.
 * There is also a glitch on the online version that even if he has not lost his newspaper, he will still have angry eyes when eating.
 * Newspaper Zombie is officially and technically considered a shield zombie because he holds the newspaper up in front of him, it protects him from damage, and it has all the traits of a standard shield. However, there is one small exception to its shield capabilities. His newspaper will protect him from frozen peas, but will not cancel the splash effect of flaming peas. This is understandable because it is made of paper and will burn.
 * However, there is no burning animation of the newspaper.
 * In Plants vs. Zombies Adventures and Plants vs. Zombies 2, the Barrel Zombie and Pharaoh Zombie is identical in movement characteristics to the Newspaper Zombie, in the sense both move faster after their shield object is destroyed, except the Barrel Zombie runs out of embarrassment, Pharaoh Zombie simply moves faster, and Newspaper Zombie runs out of anger.
 * Newspaper Zombie can still be frozen by Snow Pea, even when it is holding its newspaper in Java version of the game.

Specific to Plants vs. Zombies 2

 * Newspaper Zombie's newspaper now takes significantly more hits than it did in the first game. When he is enraged, he eats plants extremely fast, and also runs as fast as a Zombie Chicken or Ice Weasel.
 * The increase in health may have been from the fact that the area where he resides is the final world, as opposed for being extremely weak and a very unnoticeable enemy like in the first game.
 * If he was unchanged, he would have been a weaker Pharaoh Zombie.
 * Newspaper Zombie's newspaper lights on fire when hit by a fire-based plant such as Snapdragon. However, this appears to be purely cosmetic, and Newspaper Zombie does not become enraged due to the fire.
 * The newspaper also does not take a shorter time to destroy.
 * This is probably intended for use of the achievement Hot Off the Presses.
 * In his Almanac icon, his newspaper is on fire.
 * Unlike Explorer Zombie's torch or Super-Fan Imp's or Prospector Zombie's dynamite, ice plants can't extinguish the newspaper's fire.
 * Grumbling noises can be heard from Newspaper Zombie when he is reading his newspaper.
 * If one listens closely, Newspaper Zombie actually speaks and says things like "23 down is brains".
 * According to the credits of the game, the Newspaper Zombie is voiced by Chris Sampson.
 * His almanac entry description is a nod to the first game, as both mention the reason why he gets enraged when his newspaper gets destroyed; he was finishing a puzzle included in the newspaper.
 * However, in the first game, the almanac entry says that he nearly finished a sudoku puzzle, while in the second game, the almanac entry states that he nearly finished a crossword puzzle.
 * When his newspaper is gone, he makes the same grunt sound from the first game.
 * Unlike the first game, his eyes do not turn red when he is angry.
 * If he is killed when he holds the newspaper his enrage sound and the destroyed newspaper's sound can still be heard.
 * In the Chinese version, he and Sunday Edition Zombie were nerfed heavily due to them becoming slower after they lose their newspaper. They were buffed to normal on the 2.2.1 update.
 * The newspaper is different in this game, reading "Daily Brains" for the title.
 * The name "Daily Brains" may be a reference to the fact that several news services have the word "daily" in the title.
 * If one looks carefully, they can see what looks like Crazy Dave in the image in the newspaper.
 * The news on the main page is: "Garden gnomes spotted".
 * This could be a reference to Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 's Infinity Time mode. However, it is more likely a teaser to the Infinity Time mode, as Garden Warfare 2 came out after Modern Day Part 1.
 * When he is eating a plant and doesn't have his left arm, the newspaper will appear to float. This also applies to Sunday Edition Zombie.