Peashooter

Peashooter is the first and primary attacking plant received in every game in the Plants vs. Zombies series. It is a peashooting plant that shoots one pea every 1.5 seconds, dealing one normal damage shot per pea.

Origins
Like most other pea-shooting plants, the Peashooter is based on the plant Pisum sativum. The term peashooter is normally used to refer to a toy version of a blowgun, or as a slang for small or low-caliber firearms. The name also refers to the fact that peashooter shoots peas.

Plants vs. Zombies
Peashooter is obtained upon starting the game, and is the only regular, long-ranged offensive plant available up until Snow Pea is unlocked after beating Level 1-6.

Plants vs. Zombies 2
Peashooter is once again the first plant available in the player's plant arsenal, obtained before starting the first level. It is the only regular offensive plant available until Cabbage-pult is unlocked after Ancient Egypt - Day 2.

Plants vs. Zombies
Peashooter

Peashooters are your first line of defense. They shoot peas at attacking zombies.

Damage: normal

How can a single plant grow and shoot so many peas so quickly? Peashooter says, "Hard work, commitment, and a healthy, well-balanced breakfast of sunlight and high-fiber carbon dioxide make it all possible."

Cost: 100

Recharge: fast

Plant Food effect
When given Plant Food, Peashooter becomes a fast-shooting Gatling Pea, shooting 60 peas in two seconds.

Costumed
When given Plant Food, Peashooter now shoots three giant peas that deal 30 damage each, dealing a total of 90 damage.

Level upgrade
New parameters introduced with 5.9.1 update. Note that level upgrade parameters may also have changed:

Prior to 5.9.1 update:

Strategies
Peashooter is the first source of firepower in the player's floral arsenal until another offensive plant is unlocked, namely Snow Pea in Plants vs. Zombies and Cabbage-pult in Plants vs. Zombies 2. As a general rule, Peashooter will be outclassed by almost all plants unlocked later on, as it takes a while to defeat even the most basic Zombie and lacks a proper mechanic to aid itself or support other plants. Regardless, Peashooter is useful as an early offense plant to buy time for planting other offensive plants, unless the player wants to use Potato Mine or other instants instead. With its low price and good rate of fire, it can hold off the old zombies for long enough, allowing the player to plant a better offensive plant.

Peashooters should be planted on the lane of an incoming zombie, where it will fire at the zombie until either itself or its target has been killed. Torchwood can also be used to give Peashooter's projectile splash damage in Plants vs. Zombies, as well as double their damage in both games, therefore turning him into a somewhat powerful area damage plant.

Peashooting plants of any type are not advised in the Roof levels, as they cannot shoot over the sloped section of the roof unless they are on the rightmost sloped column. This holds true if the player is aiming for the Grounded achievement, but Fume-shrooms with Coffee Bean usually provide superior crowd control capability.

Heat Wave mini-game
Peashooters are the only offensive plants available in the mini-game Heat Wave, where tough enemies that would normally absorb many peas appear frequently. The Peashooters have a special ability, however - immediately after shouting (or making noise) into the microphone of the Nintendo DS, some of the Peashooters on the screen will gain an orange tint and begin shooting a constant stream of peas at the same rate as a Repeater. The supercharged Peashooters will allow the player to make short work of tough zombies that Peashooter would normally be unable to deal with.

However, the noises on the microphone should be maintained, as over time, without a signal, the Peashooters will eventually tire out and turn a tint of brown. A constant source of loud noises, such as a speaker or fan, is advised to keep the Peashooters running.

Plants vs. Zombies 2
Peashooter functions in much the same way as the first game. However, usage of the Zen Garden will allow just one Peashooter to dispatch even a Buckethead Zombie with little trouble. Boosted Peashooters are quite cheap and very effective against zombies. After that, dig it up with Shovel Boost to get some sun refund or leave it to stall zombies. Before the new update, plants may now level up. Once it reaches max level, the Peashooter can kill a basic zombie with two shots, and once in level 20 (max level for common plants) gains lime-colored glowing peas, with an approximate of 5.5 normal damage shots.

General

 * It, along with Sunflower, Wall-nut, and Cherry Bomb are often shown as the mascots of the series, appearing in both main series games and spin-offs, as well as in various promotional materials.
 * Many depictions of the Peashooter erroneously portray it having the back leaves of a Repeater, such as on the machine in Slot Machine and many other promotions for the game.
 * It resembles Bellsprout from the Pokémon series, and Deku Scrubs from The Legend Of Zelda series.
 * It and Threepeater are the only plants that are plant pieces in Plants vs. Zombies Risk.
 * A statue of a Peashooter appears as a cameo in a Battlefield 4 map named Dawnbreaker. It is thought that this is a response to the Garden Warfare trailer, which paid homages to various trailers from first-person shooters, mainly Battlefield 3 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.

Specific to Plants vs. Zombies

 * Many of Peashooter's textures, such as his bottom leaves and its head, are used in images of other plants.
 * It originally had leaves for its eyebrows, similar to Repeater. However, it was later changed to simply have no visible eyebrows at all.
 * When on the Zombatar tab of the Plants vs. Zombies Website, a Peashooter with blue hair can be seen at the corner of the screen.
 * It appears in the most mini-games out of any plant.
 * It, Imitater, Explode-o-nut, Giant Wall-nut, Giant Sunflower and Giant Marigold are the only non-upgrade plants that are not obtained by completing a level.
 * It, Puff-shroom, Wall-nut and Jalapeno are the only plants referenced to in another plant's Suburban Almanac description. Peashooter and Jalapeno are referenced in the Imitater's entry.
 * Sometimes in Heat Wave, Peashooter will transfer directly from orange to brown. It is unknown whether this is a glitch or not.
 * In the Android and iOS versions of Plants vs. Zombies, the Peashooter's leaf is much thicker.

Specific to Plants vs. Zombies 2

 * It is one of the six plants seen in the trailer of Plants vs. Zombies 2 being shown fighting the zombies, the other five being Bonk Choy, Bloomerang, Pea Pod, Wall-nut, and Sunflower.
 * Even though Peashooter is the first plant obtained, it is the second seed packet in the seed selection screen and in the Almanac.
 * It, along with Sunflower and Wall-nut, are the only plants whose costumes change depending on the season.
 * They are also the only plants who do not have a permanent costume.
 * The player can see Peashooter's pea going through its stem before it fires.
 * Peashooter's cheeks also puff up right before shooting, making it look like it actually "regurgitates" a pea and then "spits" it out instead of just shooting it.
 * Its Plants vs. Zombies: All Stars description outright states that it "attacks the enemy by spitting peas".
 * When Plant Food was used on the Peashooter while it was wearing its 2014 Halloween costume, the mask was still visible. This is opposed to many other plants, as their costumes disappear during their Plant Food effect.
 * It does its Zen Garden watering animation in the Neon Mixtape Tour - Side A Trailer.