Winter Melon


 * Not to be confused with Winter Melon from Plants vs. Zombies Online.

Winter Melon is a lobbed-shot plant and the upgrade of the Melon-pult in Plants vs. Zombies. In Plants vs. Zombies 2: It's About Time, it is a normal plant. It lobs frozen melons that deal four normal damage shots per melon and freezes a group of zombies at once. Frozen melons deal 1.5 normal damage shots in a 3x3 radius in Plants vs. Zombies, and 2 normal damage shots in a 3x3 radius in Plants vs. Zombies 2: It's About Time. In Plants vs. Zombies, it costs $10,000 to buy in the shop and is only available for purchase once the player has completed Adventure Mode for the first time. In Plants vs. Zombies 2: It's About Time, it is unlocked after unlocking the Locked and Loaded levels for the Wild West before the 1.7 update, beating Wild West - Day 24 after the 1.7 update, or spending 600000 coins in the Chinese version of the game. Its name is based on the Benincasa hispida, although its appearance resembles a watermelon. It was named Winter Melon to express literal descriptin of Winter Melon while the actual Winter Melon can be found in Plants vs. Zombies Online.

Plants vs. Zombies
Winter Melon

Winter Melons do heavy damage and slow groups of zombies.

Damage: heavy

Range: lobbed

Firing Speed: 1/2x

Special: melons damage and freeze nearby enemies on impact

Must be planted on melon-pults

Winter Melon tries to calm his nerves. He hears zombies approach. Will he make it? Will anyone make it?

Cost: 200

Recharge: very slow

Plants vs. Zombies 2: It's About Time
Sun cost: 500

DAMAGE: Heavy

AREA: 3x3

RECHARGE: Fast

Winter Melons do heavy damage and slow groups of zombies.

Firing Speed: 1/2x

Range: lobbed

Special: damaged enemies are also chilled

You may recognize Winter Melon's voice from such incredible documentaries as "It's Cold Up Here," "Ice Bingo," and "Surfin' Swedes."

Plant Food
When given Plant Food, the Winter Melon will unleash a barrage of deadly frozen melons out from the top that do double damage of a normal frozen melon to all zombies. The greater the concentration of zombie horde, the more frozen melons will be unleashed (also deals splash damage).

Level upgrade (Chinese version only)
Level 2: There will be a seven-percent chance to freeze zombies when it deals damage. Its attack power and health will increase by fifty-percent.

Level 3: Winter Melon's chance of freezing a zombie will increase to fourteen-percent. Any zombie that gets caught in its splash will also get frozen shut. Its attack power and health will increase again by fifty-percent, for twice the attack power and health than in Level 1.

Costumed (Chinese version only)
If it has its costume, the Winter Melon's Plant Food ability can shoot flaming frozen melons that deal quadruple damage than that of a frozen melon.

Plants vs. Zombies
The Winter Melon lobs a large Frozen Melon at the zombies. This melon deals 4 normal damage shots to the targeted zombie and 1.5 normal damage shots to nearby zombies above, below or on the same space. It fires at half the rate of a Peashooter. All zombies affected by the Frozen Melon will be slowed to half their speed for a duration of time. The projectiles will also bypass the shields of the zombies.

Plants vs. Zombies 2: It's About Time
The Winter Melon lobs a large Frozen Melon at the zombies. The melon deals 4 normal damage shots to the targeted zombie and 2 normal damage shots at the nearby zombies in the 3x3 radius. The Winter Melon lobs its projectile every 3 seconds. All the zombies affected by the Frozen Melon will be slowed to half their speed for a duration of time. The projective can bypass the shields of the zombies.

Plants vs. Zombies
The Winter Melon is one of the most powerful plants in the game, in league with plants like the Cob Cannon, Gloom-shroom, and Gatling Pea. The Winter Melon can freeze zombies within a half-square radius and deal significant Area of Effect damage. The Winter Melon is effective against shield zombies. The Melon-pult and Snow Pea combination has a similar effect, but the Snow Pea affects fewer zombies.

Compared to Gatling Peas, Winter Melons are more expensive for the first plant, but after every extra plant, they are less expensive for every plant afterwards. This is because you need only one Winter Melon per lane to freeze zombies in the lane, like a Snow Pea. Gatling Peas have a 450 sun cost (if factoring in the Repeater), but if there is a Torchwood in the lane, it is a total cost of 200+250+175, equaling 625. A Winter Melon with a Melon-pult, is the same power, with improved splash damage, for 300+200+300, or 800. In other words, it is cheaper for a Gatling Pea with Torchwood compared to a Winter Melon and Melon-pult.

The Winter Melon is frequently used in Survival Mode. Because the zombie density increases dramatically over time, the splash and slow effect is critical for survival. Powerful zombies such as Football Zombies or Gargantuars appear frequently in Survival: Endless, but Winter Melons weaken them considerably. Winter Melons strategically placed in the pool rows can slow Buckethead Ducky Tube Zombies and Dolphin Rider Zombies.

Melon-y Lane Achievement
The achievement Melon-y Lane is unlocked by planting a Winter Melon in every lane. This can easily be done on any Survival Mode level or Last Stand. Keep in mind that they do not all have to be alive at one given time, or in the same column.

Plants vs. Zombies 2: It's About Time
The Winter Melon is currently easier to use in this game then before, as the player needs 500 sun to plant it on the lawn without an initial Melon-pult. This was extremely difficult before the 1.7 update, but is now much easier after the 1.7 update as each sun values 50. However, Twin Sunflowers are still recommended for sun production while Potato Mines are mandatory for holding the zombies back if the player wants to use them.

Locked and Loaded - Wild West (Day 9, Day 22)

 * See also: Locked and Loaded, Wild West - Day 9, Wild West - Day 22

Although they might seem expensive, Winter Melons are required in these levels in order to defeat the massive numbers of zombies which swarm the screen, especially Day 9 where both Lightning Reeds and Split Peas cannot reliably take care of Poncho Zombies. In Day 22, It is advised the player places 1 on the hindmost mine cart In order to slow down the zombies but they won't help against Zombie Chickens, so Repeaters are mandatory for taking care of them.

Endless Zones
Winter Melon is a good plant to use in every Endless Zones especially in Pyramid of Doom because as the level goes higher, tombstones are most likely to occupy 80% of the lawn, making it hard to gain advantage. Winter Melons in number are also very good at holding off a massive horde of zombies. However, it is not recommended to use the Winter Melon in Arthur's Challenge, due to the appearance of Jester Zombies. Yet it can be undone by just placing boosted Infi-nuts. Also the alternate way is to use Coconut Cannon not directly to the Jester Zombie but do it on zombies like Wizard Zombie or Knight Zombie. If there are any Jester Zombies, the splash will then damage them.

General

 * The Winter Melon's namesake is a vegetable, but its downgrade is based on a fruit.
 * This is the only lobbed-shot plant that can slow down zombies.
 * Winter Melon's tagalog name is "Kundol" and is mentioned in a Filipino folk song "Bahay Kubo."
 * Its Plants vs. Zombies: Online counterpart has the legitimate appearance of the actual winter melon where instead of having a melon in a blue color, it is actually a vegetable.
 * Winter Melons require very warm weather for it to grow faster.

Specific to Plants vs. Zombies

 * If the Winter Melon's seed packet is fully recharged, the player has accumulated enough sun to purchase it, and there are no Melon-pults on the lawn, clicking on the Winter Melon seed packet causes a message to appear stating "Plant a Winter Melon first" instead of "Plant a Melon-pult first". This glitch is fixed in current versions of Plants vs. Zombies.
 * It is one of only two upgrade plants that cost less sun than the plants they upgrade, the other plant being the Gold Magnet.
 * According to the Suburban Almanac, the Winter Melon can deal a very heavy amount of damage. However, it deals the same amount of damage per melon as the Melon-pult.
 * On the PlayStation Vita version of Plants vs. Zombies, the Winter Melon's seed packets might have part of the melon erased. It shares this trait with the Coffee Bean.
 * In the iPad version, Winter Melon is a lot lower down on its seed packet than Melon-pult.
 * It is the only upgrade plant to "lob" projectiles.

Specific to Plants vs. Zombies 2: It's About Time

 * It can now be planted as a normal plant, instead of having to be planted on a Melon-pult like normal Upgrade Plants. It shares this trait with the Twin Sunflower and Spikerock.
 * It is the second most expensive plant in the game, costing 500 sun. That is because that is the cost to get Winter Melon in the original game, as Melon-pult costs 300 sun and Winter Melon costs 200 sun in the first game. The most expensive plant is the Tile Turnip, since its sun cost can go over the maximum amount of sun, being worth 16000 sun.
 * It is also the most expensive plant in Wild West.
 * Like the Melon-pult, it takes three steps before it starts catapulting a frozen melon.
 * Winter Melon's vine that connects its body to its basket and its leaves under it are now completely blue.
 * The Almanac says that it does the same damage as a Melon-pult, even though in the first game, the Almanac said that it does very heavy damage.
 * Its seed packet has its eyes higher than the Melon-pult, similar to how in the iPad version it was lower than the Melon-pult.
 * It is the only upgrade plant from Plants vs. Zombies to not have its total sun cost changed in Plants vs. Zombies 2: It's About Time.
 * Its costume makes a reference to Eric Cartman's hat from South Park.
 * The Chinese version costume makes another reference to South Park which is Kyle's hat.
 * If it is wearing its Chinese version costume, it would have a chance of freezing zombies too.