Plants vs. Zombies/Concepts

This page records beta content of Plants vs. Zombies. There are unused graphics, texts and mini-games that still remain in the game's coding. There are also earlier ideas for the game. These concepts began production in 2007.

Early names
Before the game came out, PopCap came up with many different names for it, but ultimately Plants vs. Zombies was chosen. Some of the scrapped names still were reused later.

Concept art
As seen in earlier concept art for the game, the player was going to fight against aliens rather than zombies. This concept is used from another PopCap game, Insaniquarium. Some sketches show plants that did not appear in the final version. It also suggests that Jalapeno was going to be bound to the ground.

Unused text
Most of the text is stored in main.pak/properites/LawnStrings.txt.
 * Dog Walking Zombie, Dog Zombie and Propeller Zombie were going to appear in the game, but were taken out and there are no sprites for them but artwork.
 * Dog Walking Zombie and the Dog Zombie in particular would eventually become real zombies in Plants vs. Zombies Heroes, as just Dog Walker.
 * The shovel had to be recharged before it could be used again.
 * There was going to be a Vasebreaker level called "Vasebreaker Facebreaker."
 * There is no known data in the game's code for it.
 * Survival Mode was going to be available from a present item but now it is unlocked after beating Adventure Mode for first time.
 * There was supposed to be a Mysterious Vase that unlocks Vasebreaker mode, but in the final game, unlocking puzzle mode also unlocks I, Zombie and Vasebreaker mode.

Trivia

 * The unused zombie vase makes its debut Plants vs. Zombies 2 using a different design and color, and would always spawn a Vase Gargantuar.

Unused plants and zombies
Rich Werner's (artist of Plants vs. Zombies) concept art on his site shows unused plants, zombies or some early designs. Some of the unused plants later appeared in Plants vs. Zombies: All Stars, showing that PopCap did not forget about them.

Trivia

 * Some of the unused plants were planned to make it into Plants vs. Zombies: All Stars, but have yet to appear in it.
 * However, the blueberry-like plant was used in Plants vs. Zombies Heroes as a card called the Bluesberry but with some design changes, the pineapple-like plant was used as a card called the Spineapple also with some design changes and used in the Chinese version of Plants vs. Zombies 2 as Pineapple, and the pomegranate-like plant was used in Plants vs. Zombies: Journey to the West as a plant called the Pomegranate Machine Gun.
 * The concept of Garlic makes it look like a vampire. Ironically vampires have a weakness to garlic.
 * The boy and girl zombies may be a reference to Hansel and Gretel.
 * The concept of Buckethead Zombie may explain the final version's red stain on its bucket.
 * In one of Chomper's concepts, it appears to be originally CGI instead of the usual 2D model.
 * Some plants in their concept page have armor.
 * The Pole Vaulting Zombie concept appears to be a zombie with a concussion, wearing a hospital gown.
 * Magnet-shroom was going to look like a mushroom with a magnet welded to it's head.

Earlier gameplay
As seen in earlier screenshots of game, Snow Pea was going to cost 200 sun, Tangle Kelp was going to be a ground plant, and plants were given via conveyor style, but the player still needed sun to plant them. Possibly, players were going to select the rating of getting plants on the conveyor belt.

Also, in October 2007 when the name was "Lawn of the Dead", the progress bar was shorter, the Sunflower costed 100 sun, the sun amount was near the right side of the screen, the lawn was zoomed in more, the lawnmowers were closer to the grass, and Potato Mine cost 50 sun instead of 25 sun and was bigger, as wide as a grass tile. Like the Snow Pea, Chomper originally costed 200 sun, and in an Ice World the Wall-nut costs 75 sun.

Limbo Page
The Limbo Page is a hidden amount of data in the PC version of Plants vs. Zombies that contains ten mini-games, along with four variations on Survival: Endless, that were going to be added to the game, but were eventually canceled and removed from the game. It is possible to access this page via using third-party memory editing programs such as Cheat Engine and changing specific data values.

Removed achievements
These achievements were originally intended for the iOS version, but were removed. They are still hidden in the coding for the game, albeit disabled.
 * Disrespect The Dead - Remove 10 graves during a single nighttime level.
 * Heavy Weapons - Complete Last Stand using only Cob Cannons to kill zombies.
 * Zen Profit - Earn a total of 100,000 coins through your Zen Garden.
 * May Not Contain Nuts - Defeat a nighttime level without using Wall-nuts or Tall-nuts.
 * Even Morticulturalist - Use every Plant at least once.
 * Beat It - Defeat a Dancing Zombie before he summons Backup Dancers.
 * Gold Farmer - Plant 5 Marigolds and a Gold Magnet in a single level.
 * Face To Face - Complete a level with Digger Zombies without any of them reaching the left side of your lawn.

Ice Area
An ice themed area was planned to be made, due to the popularity of the Zombie Bobsled Team. Yeti Zombie was supposed appear here as a regular Zombie, as well as Santa zombies with unknown purposes. However, certain concepts would later be used in Frostbite Caves. There is still data for this area, though it's heavily incomplete.

Post-release
After the game was released, a Plants vs. Zombies soundtrack was released afterwards. In the soundtrack, it included an unused soundtrack originally designed for the battle with Dr. Zomboss. It was not included in the final release because the "intense" parts of the track weren't long enough to sustain the entire Dr. Zomboss battle, but portions of it are scattered throughout the game's released songs in the form of a leitmotif.