Squash


 * For other uses, see Squash (disambiguation).

Squash is a single-use plant in Plants vs. Zombies and returns as a premium plant in Plants vs. Zombies 2. When Squash spots a zombie in an area near him, he will jump up high before smashing the target, dealing 1800 damage per shot worth of damage to any enemy on the tile Squash lands on.

Origins
Squash's design is based on the real life Sechium edule, a type of gourd belonging to the plant family Cucurbitaceae. The term "squash" in English also means crushing or squeezing by force, befitting Squash's ability.

His 'sporty' costume may also refer to the sport of the same name, Squash.

Plants vs. Zombies
Squash is unlocked by beating Level 3-1 (Level 1-5 in the online version), making him the second plant unlocked in the Pool area, and the eighteenth plant unlocked overall in Adventure Mode. When an enemy is within a 0.5 tile radius near him (both forward and backward), Squash will jump up before crash landing on the target and dealing damage.

Squash is effective at taking out a Pole Vaulting Zombie and Dolphin Rider Zombie as the latter will vault over the Squash, but will then get flattened due to its low movement speed and Squash's ability to attack enemies from both in front and behind.

Enemies killed by Squash have a unique effect: They will be reduced to flattened copies of themselves and disappear after a few seconds. On the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade versions, any controllers connected to the console will rumble when he smashes.

Defeating five enemies with a single Squash will give the player the Monster Mash achievement.

Plants vs. Zombies 2
Squash returns as a premium plant available for purchase at $2.99. From August 25th to September 1st, 2015, his price was changed to 159 gems. He was available again with the same amount of gems like before from September 17, 2016 to September 22, 2016. On March 16, 2017, Squash became available for 100 gems permanently.

Squash's detection range has been increased to one tile both forward and backward, and the unique effect on defeated enemies did not make a return.

While it is not given for any levels in any world, it is showcased in some Piñata Parties and has its own epic quest.

Plants vs. Zombies
Squash

Squashes will smash the first zombie that gets close to it.

Damage: massive Range: short range, hits all zombies that it lands on  Usage:  single use

"I'm ready!" yells Squash. "Let's do it! Put me in! There's nobody better! I'm your guy! C'mon! Whaddya waiting for? I need this!"

Cost: 50

Recharge: slow

Plant Food effect
When given Plant Food, Squash smashes two random targets before returning to his original position. The last move is also counted as a smash and will deal damage to enemies on Squash's tile. In addition, his smash count is reset, allowing him to smash multiple times again, if he has been upgraded to do so.

Costumed
Squash now targets three random zombies on the screen instead of two.

Plants vs. Zombies
Squash can be considered to be an upgraded version of Potato Mine for one main reason: Unlike Potato Mine, Squash does not suffer from a lengthy arming time which would normally prevent Potato Mine from being used in the late levels. The faster recharge rate, cheap price and smaller area of effect compared to Cherry Bomb's and Doom-shroom's mean that Squash will be more suited to eliminating high-threat targets, instead of large crowds of lower health ones. Squash can also be used to help build up your Sunflowers in the early game, as he only costs 50 sun, and most zombies only come out one by one at the beginning.

Monster Mash
The achievement Monster Mash is earned by crushing five zombies of any kind with one Squash. Any level in the Survival Mode, especially Survival: Endless should allow an easy opportunity to do this, and gathering enemies with Wall-nut, Tall-nut or Pumpkin can also make the task easier. Playing Column Like You See 'Em a lot can also help, as zombies tend to come in large groups in this mini-game.

I, Zombie
There are several I, Zombie levels with Squash. Make sure you use cheap zombies whenever you can, and remember that the Gargantuar can be easily taken down by two of them in the same lane. In I, Zombie Endless, the player should avoid sending Bungee Zombie near a Squash, which results in failure and wasting sun.

Plants vs. Zombies 2
Compared to the version in the first game, Squash has been hit with a severe reduction in his usefulness. The increased detection radius is a blessing on paper, but actually a curse in practice, as this means Squash will always prioritize the target behind him regardless of the player's intention. In other words, there will be situations when Squash will target the headless corpse one tile behind him, instead of a more dangerous zombie right next to him and potentially cause the loss of a level (only applies if a zombie is near to the player's house but there are no lawn mowers on a lane or levels with flowers). Squash also faces great competition for his task, due to the advent of other low cooldown and cheap instant-use plants such as Lava Guava, Primal Potato Mine and Ghost Pepper.

At level 3 and above, Squash will be able to squash more zombies. It will squash a zombie, before jumping back to its original position and allowing it to squash again. The return jump count as an attack and will deal damage to any zombies near it. With this, it is possible to defeat a Gargantuar without letting it throw its Imp by placing a single Squash on top of it - the Squash will attack the Gargantuar, then jump back to its starting position, dealing two hits to the Gargantuar and killing it while the Gargantuar continuously tries to smash it. Even if the first attack hits a zombie behind, the return jump and the following attack will be enough to destroy the Gargantuar.

However, avoid placing Squash in front of the tileless area on Pirate Seas with the water tiles level as this is because there will be a chance that if a zombie happens to land on that area, Squash will miss the zombie and drop to the sea. The same applies with Big Wave Beach. If Squash attempts to mash a zombie on a water tile, the zombie will die, but he will be lost underwater. This happens whether or not there is a Lily Pad on the tile in question.

Also, avoid using Squash against Imp Cannon (unless with power up) as the Imp Cannon normally located at water tile area there and will only release one zombie at a time which is ineffective for Squash due to the fact of it being able to squash it with limited chances.

Specific to Plants vs. Zombies

 * If he squashes a zombie on the edge of the pool, instead of hitting the floor and making a thud, he still makes a splash like jumping into water.
 * In the free PC version, the player cannot use him, Threepeater, or Twin Sunflower.
 * All zombies except Zomboni, Catapult Zombie, and Gargantuar will simply disappear when killed by Squash. The three zombies mentioned will play their normal dying animation.
 * He is one of the two plants to have his own voice, in which he says "Hm?" when a zombie approaches him. The other one is Sunflower.
 * He does not make this sound in the Nintendo DS version.

Specific to Plants vs. Zombies 2

 * In the Plants vs. Zombies 2 trailer, the milk carton in the fridge Crazy Dave opened said that he was missing.
 * The zombie that he is targeting will always be hit, even if the zombie switches lanes, or is blown back to the ninth column. The only time he misses is when the zombie dies.
 * When he leaves his tile to attack a zombie, his tile can be planted on. This will result in two plants on the same tile when he returns if he has been upgraded to smash more than once.
 * From August 13 to August 18 of 2015, he competed against Imitater for which plant should be a gem premium plant for a limited time.
 * He, Imitater, Torchwood and Starfruit actually became gem premiums temporarily.
 * In Big Wave Beach, if he squashes a zombie that is in the water, then he will destroy the zombie but both the Squash and the zombie will disappear. This also happens in Sky City, due to all of the levels taking place in the air.
 * On March 16, 2017, he became one of 5 premium plants to be permanently purchasable with 100 gems, along with Hypno-shroom, Pea-nut, Jalapeno and Shrinking Violet.
 * He cannot be killed by Gargantuar's smash, All-Star Zombie's tackle or MC Zom-B's microphone. He can only be killed by Turquoise Skull Zombie's beam and Zombie King.
 * He can sometimes be killed by Barrel Roller Zombie.

Specific to Plants vs. Zombies Online

 * He can only be used in a special Daily Event mode, unless one purchases him for 150 gems.
 * He costs 125 sun in this game.