Brain Busters

"I've named them Brain Busters."

- Penny

"Brain busting? Very dangerous. You go first."

- Crazy Dave

Brain Busters are puzzle levels of Plants vs. Zombies 2: It's About Time in which the player faces levels that are more challenging than usuall. On the map, they are marked with striped icons rather than solid colored like regular levels. Some Brain Busters return from the old game, but most of them are new. They are somewhat similar to the mini-games and puzzles of the original Plants vs. Zombies.

Save Our Seeds
Key needed (versions 1.6 and under): four (three in Ancient Egypt)

In this Brain Buster, the player has to stop the zombies from killing the endangered plants on the yellow and black striped tiles. Each world usually has a certain plant, but some worlds have different levels with different plants.

Played on Ancient Egypt - Day 15 and 20, Pirate Seas - Day 16 and 24, Wild West - Day 16 and 24, Far Future - Day 15 and 20, Dark Ages - Day 12, and also a Pinata Party.

Locked and Loaded
Keys needed (versions 1.6 and under): four (five in Wild West)

In this Brain Buster, the player has to use the plants pre-selected by Crazy Dave. Otherwise, you would have risked distorting reality.

Played on Ancient Egypt - Day 11 and 21, Pirate Seas - Day 5 and 18, Wild West - Day 9 and 22, Far Future - Day 6 and 17, and Dark Ages - Night 8.

Last Stand
Keys needed (versions 1.6 and under): five (four in Wild West)

This Brain Buster is similar to the original Last Stand from Plants vs. Zombies. The player has to plan a defense to survive the incoming onslaught using a limited amount of sun.

Played on Ancient Egypt - Day 18 and 24, Pirate Seas - Day 14 and 22, Wild West - Day 6 and 18, Far Future - Day 11 and 22, and Dark Ages - Night 6.

Special Delivery
Keys needed (versions 1.6 and under): one

In this Brain Buster, the player must use plants given from a conveyor belt.

Mummy Memory
Keys needed (versions 1.6 and under): four

Also played on Ancient Egypt - Day 8. (pre-1.7)

Played on Ancient Egypt - Day 7, 16, and 23.

In this Brain Buster, the player has to match various symbols by flipping the Camel Zombies' boards to kill them.

Cannons Away
Keys needed (versions 1.6 and under): three

Also played on Pirate Seas - Day 5. (pre-1.7)

Played on Pirate Seas - Day 3, 11, and 20.

Here, the player has to blast as many Seagull Zombies using the Coconut Cannons to beat the target score. As each level is beat, the score goal increases.

Not OK Corral
Keys needed (versions 1.6 and under): three

Also played on Wild West Day 5. (pre-1.7)

Played on Wild West - Day 12 and 20.

Here, the player has to put the plants in the mine carts strategically to destroy the zombies coming out from the corrals.

Sun Bombs
Played on Far Future - Days 4, 19 and 24.

Here, Sunflowers, Twin Sunflowers or Sun-shrooms cannot be used. Sun falling from the sky is purple before reaching the ground. They explode taking out plants and zombies only if the player touches them before they reach the ground. However, sun falling from the sky is significantly more common.

Special Delivery
Played on Far Future - Day 16.

In this Brain Buster, the player must use the plants given from a conveyor belt.

Zomboss Test Lab
Played on Far Future - After Day 10. (Chinese Version Only)

On this level there are plants on the lawn and the player has to defeat them in order to beat the level, it can "plant" zombies to overcome and eat all the plants. Every plant eaten is worth 150 sun. This Brain Buster is similar to I, Zombie from Plants vs. Zombies.

Evil Potions
Played on Dark Ages - Night 9 and 17.

In this Brain Buster, a hand which comes from the ground leaves "evil" potions on the lawn that can give zombies effects.

The orange potions make zombies walk faster while the purple potions make them tougher.

Special Delivery
Played on Dark Ages - Night 4 and 13.

In this Brain Buster, the player must use the plants given from a conveyor belt.

Powder Keg
Here, the player tries to avoid the flames of the torches from destroying the kegs. If all the kegs explodes, the player loses. Iceberg Lettuce, Snow Pea, and Winter Melon can extinguish the flames.

Gargantuar Bronze Minigame
In this minigame, the player must use the plants given to them via conveyor-belt. There are certain numbers of petrified Gargantuar Bronzes that will attempt to free themselves from petrification given by the timer. These petrified warriors can be destroyed by plants. If the player fails, the Gargantuar Bronze is free from petrification and is ready to smash the Player's line of defenses. The more petrified Gargantuar Bronzes are there, the harder the battle becomes. The player wins when all zombies are killed.

Trivia

 * The music during the Brain Busters is Braniac Maniac (Dr. Zomboss's theme) from the first game played in the theme of the world that the player is playing in.
 * Kung-Fu World on the other hand still uses the regular theme.
 * None of the Last Stand levels except one (Ancient Egypt - III before the 1.7 update and Day 24 afterward) let the player use free plants such as Iceberg Lettuce.
 * The Brain Busters were previously separate from the main level progression before the 1.7 update (accessed using keys); afterwards, the Brain Busters have been integrated into the main level progression.