Football Zombie


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

Football Zombie is a tough and fast zombie which first appeared in Plants vs. Zombies, Plants vs. Zombies: Journey to the West and Plants vs. Zombies: Great Wall Edition. Football Zombie first appears in Level 2-6, and it is the eighth zombie encountered in Adventure Mode. Football Zombie without a helmet is only as strong as a Zombie, but the zombie cannot be damaged until its helmet is destroyed or stolen by a Magnet-shroom. There is also a giga version that is only found in the Plants vs. Zombies Web Version.

Suburban Almanac entry
 FOOTBALL ZOMBIE 

Football Zombie makes the big plays.

Toughness: very high

Speed: fast

Weakness: Magnet-shroom

Football Zombie gives 110 percent whenever he's on the field. He's a team player who delivers both offensively and defensively. He has no idea what a football is.

Overview
Football Zombie absorbs 80 normal damage shots, and its appearance changes upon absorbing 24, 47, 70 (at this point, the football helmet is destroyed), and 75 normal damage shots before dying at 80 normal damage shots.

Encounters

 * Adventure Mode: 2-6, 2-7, 2-10, 3-2, 3-5, 4-2, 4-5, 5-4, 5-10
 * Mini-games: It's Raining Seeds, Beghouled, Beghouled Twist, Big Trouble Little Zombie, Portal Combat, Column Like You See 'Em, Last Stand, Dr. Zomboss's Revenge, Buttered Popcorn, Heavy Weapon, BOMB All Together!, Zombie Trap, Sunny Day, Big Time
 * Puzzle Mode: Chain Reaction, M is for Metal, Scary Potter, I, Zombie (Level), All your brainz r belong to us, I, Zombie Endless, all Last Stand (Puzzle Mode) levels except Last Stand: Fog
 * Survival Mode: all levels
 * Co-op Mode: all levels except Co-op Day and Co-op Bowling
 * Others: Versus Mode

Adventure Mode and Survival Mode
The player obtains the Hypno-shroom after beating Level 2-5, so he or she can try to hypnotize the Football Zombie to make the level easier when instant kills are not enough.

The Suburban Almanac advises the use of a Magnet-shroom, reducing the maximum absorption to ten normal damage shots. It is very fast and has a lot of health. The use of heavy damage plants, such as Melon-pult or movement restricting plants, such as Snow Pea, Kernel-pult, and Winter Melon, are other options. In general, just pile tons of fire power onto it. If these options are unavailable, use an instant kill. Spikeweed and Spikerock can heavily damage the zombie as it approaches the player's plants, though the two are better when in front of a Wall-nut, Tall-nut or a Pumpkin to stall it while being damaged. Also, Gatling Pea is useful to weaken their helmets quickly, once the player buys them. Using Gatling Pea is better when combined with Torchwood.

Take note it has a bigger hitbox, meaning that it can activate an armed Potato Mine in a Pumpkin.

I, Zombie
Deploy this zombie when very large amounts of damage needs to be absorbed (sometimes, it may be more efficient to use a Ladder Zombie, instead of one if there is a Snow Pea, as frequently less damage would need to be absorbed if the zombie in that row was able to move at a normal speed, and the freezing effect can't go through the ladder). Also, avoid using when there are Magnet-shrooms around, as it will remove the football helmet and render the Football Zombie almost useless.

Giga-Football Zombie
Giga-Football Zombie is a black and white Football Zombie that is only seen in the online versions of Survival Mode and Vasebreaker. Giga-Football Zombie has the health of a Gargantuar except that it moves around faster, has to chew on plants to kill them, and has no Imp to throw. Unlike normal Football Zombies, Giga-Football Zombie has spikes on its shoulder plate.

Specific to Plants vs. Zombies

 * Football Zombie is the only zombie that appears in Plants vs. Zombies and Plants vs. Zombies Adventures but not in Plants vs. Zombies 2.
 * However, some people could say that the All-Star Zombie is the Football Zombie in Plants vs. Zombies 2, just with different abilities.
 * Most zombies lose their left arm when they take enough damage. The Football Zombie loses its right arm instead (unless it has eaten a Hypno-shroom).
 * Football Zombie, Dancing Zombie (when moonwalking), Zombie Yeti, and the hypnotized zombies (excluding Football Zombie) are the only zombies in Plants vs. Zombies that lose their right arm before death.
 * If a Football Zombie chews on a Garlic, it will not stop and make a face, but it will instead go instantly to another lane.
 * Football Zombie's helmet is available in the Xbox Live Marketplace for 160 Microsoft Points.
 * Football Zombie itself has the same hit points as a regular zombie (ten hit points); the only reason why its toughness is so high is because of its helmet, which absorbs seventy hit points. Because of this, Football Zombie's hit points is on par with an Imp, despite it being much bigger than the Imp, and it has less hit points than a Pole Vaulting Zombie or Ladder Zombie (seventeen hit points each).
 * If a Football Zombie is hit by butter while running, it may freeze it in mid-air, while running. This may also happen if it is frozen by an Ice-shroom.
 * Football Zombie is the only zombie that can be frozen in mid-air. Balloon Zombies and Pogo Zombies cannot be frozen while they still have their balloon and pogo stick, respectively, even though they can be slowed down.
 * Spikeweed and Spikerock can still damage Football Zombie when it is in mid-air.
 * Football Zombie, Giga-Football Zombie, Zombie Bobsled Team, Balloon Zombie, Dancing Zombie, Backup Dancers, and Imp are the only zombies that fall backwards when they die.
 * Football Zombie has the second toughest headwear, the toughest being Giga-Football Zombie's headwear.
 * It is also one of the fastest headwear zombies, with the others being Balloon Zombie and Digger Zombie while it is underground.
 * In the Nintendo DS version of the game, when a Football Zombie loses its arm, instead of showing its arm falling off, the game shows the arm of an ordinary Zombie falling off.
 * The football helmet protects Football Zombie from projectiles and some plants like Spikeweed even though they mostly hit it in the other body parts except for lobbed-shot plants.
 * This applies to any other headwear zombies.
 * Football Zombie (with its helmet) makes the same sound when hit as Conehead Zombie and Digger Zombie.
 * Football Zombie is one of three zombies to have facepaint, the others being Gatling Pea Zombie and Giga-Football Zombie. All of those characters all have their facepaint under their eyes.
 * It is unknown how Football Zombie is able to eat with its helmet on, as the mouth guard would prevent that, although its headwear still has holes for its mouth which are pretty big.
 * Football Zombie is the most powerful zombie to show up in a first wave as it was in Column Like You See 'Em (not including Survival: Endless).
 * In the Nintendo DS version of the game, Football Zombie eats and runs faster.
 * On the I, Zombie seed packet for this zombie, its head is bigger than it should be.
 * Newspaper Zombie (after the newspaper is destroyed), Football Zombie, and Giga-Football Zombie are the only zombies that can look straight at the player's house.
 * It is unknown how Football Zombies can kick up dirt on the Roof.
 * However, the "dirt" on the roof could actually be dust.
 * Many promotional images for the game show the Football Zombie as having a piece of dirt stuck in the mouth guard of its helmet.
 * In the game, Football Zombie's eyes are red and it has the eye black makeup on its face while in the artwork, its eyes are normal and it does not have the eye black makeup on its face.
 * There is a glitch when the Football Zombie is hypnotized, the dirt kicks in front of the cleats rather than behind.