Brain Busters

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

- Crazy Dave


 * For the similar game mode in Plants vs. Zombies, see Mini-games.
 * For the Brain Busters in Plants vs. Zombies Online, see Brain Busters (PvZO).

Brain Busters are levels in Plants vs. Zombies 2 which are more challenging than usual levels and also add different mechanics, conditions, or objectives to gameplay. They are marked on the map as semi-spheres with striped icons, instead of solid colored semi-spheres like regular levels. In the Chinese version and before the 1.7 update, these were unlocked using world-specific keys. Some Brain Busters are remakes of Plants vs. Zombies mini-games, but most of them are new. Gameplay wise, they play out similarly to the mini-games and puzzles of the first game. Some Brain Busters are exclusive to one world.

Save Our Seeds
Keys needed (versions 1.6 and below): four (three in Ancient Egypt)

In this Brain Buster, the player has to stop the zombies from eating/destroying the endangered plants on the yellow and black striped tiles. Each world usually has a certain plant, but some worlds have levels with various endangered plants. Some even contain 2-3 types of plants in the same level.

Played on:
 * Ancient Egypt - Days 15 and 20
 * Pirate Seas - Days 16 and 24
 * Wild West - Days 16 and 24
 * Far Future - Days 15 and 20
 * Dark Ages - Nights 12 and 19
 * Big Wave Beach - Days 15, 23 and 30
 * Frostbite Caves - Days 15, 23 and 27
 * Lost City - Day 15
 * Neon Mixtape Tour - Days 5, 15, and 26
 * Jurassic Marsh - Day 15
 * Modern Day - Day 15
 * Selected Piñata Parties.

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

The player has to use the plants pre-selected by Crazy Dave. Otherwise, the player "would have risked distorting reality," according to Penny.

Played on:
 * Ancient Egypt - Days 11 and 21
 * Pirate Seas - Days 5 and 18
 * Wild West - Day 9 and 22
 * Far Future - Days 6 and 17
 * Dark Ages - Nights 8 and 18
 * Big Wave Beach - Days 14 and 31
 * Frostbite Caves - Days 14 and 29
 * Lost City - Days 8, 14, 21 and 31
 * Neon Mixtape Tour - Days 9, 11, 14 and 31
 * Jurassic Marsh - Days 9, 14, 29 and 31
 * Modern Day - Days 9 and 14
 * Minority of Piñata Parties.

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. No sun-producing plants or free plants can be used (except Ancient Egypt - Day 24 when you can use Iceberg Lettuce)

Played on:
 * Ancient Egypt - Days 18 and 24
 * Pirate Seas - Days 14 and 22
 * Wild West - Days 6 and 18
 * Far Future - Days 11 and 22
 * Dark Ages - Nights 6 and 15
 * Big Wave Beach - Days 12 and 29
 * Frostbite Caves - Days 12 and 28
 * Neon Mixtape Tour - Days 13 and 24
 * Jurassic Marsh - Days 22 and 27

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

The player receives plants from a conveyor belt, similarly to the fifth and final levels of each world in the original game.

Played on:
 * Ancient Egypt - Day 4
 * Far Future - Day 16
 * Dark Ages - Nights 4 and 13
 * Big Wave Beach - Days 3, 5, 10, 18, 21 and 26
 * Frostbite Caves - Days 3, 5, 8, 10, 18, 21 and 25
 * Lost City - Days 3, 5, 9, 13 and 18
 * Neon Mixtape Tour - Days 3, 6, 10, 19, 22 and 27
 * Jurassic Marsh - Days 3, 7 and 19
 * Modern Day - Days 3, 19, and 25
 * Majority of Piñata Parties

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

The player must match various symbols by flipping the Camel Zombies' boards to kill them. Lawn mowers, Plant Food, and Power Ups are disabled in these levels.

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

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

The player must blast away as many Seagull Zombies as possible using the provided Coconut Cannons to beat the target score. As each level is completed, the score goal is increased by Penny. Combos can be made if more Seagull Zombies are killed at the same time.

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

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

The player has to put the plants in the minecarts strategically to destroy the zombies coming out from the corrals. Corrals with electricity indicate that no zombies are to come from that corral for the wave.

Played on Wild West - Days 4, 12, and 20.

Sun Bombs
All sun-producing plants except for Gold Bloom, Sun Bean and Toadstool cannot be used. Sun falling from the sky is purple before reaching the ground, turning into their regular yellow shade. Purple sun will explode, taking out plants and zombies only if the player touches them before they reach the ground. However, sun falls from the sky twice as often compared to a normal level.

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

Zomboss Test Lab
Similar to I, Zombie from Plants vs. Zombies, there are plants on the lawn which need to be destroyed in order to beat the level. The player must spawn zombies to eat the plants. Every eaten plant is worth 150 sun.

All by Oneself
The plants do ten times their normal damage, and have a faster shooting rate in this Brain Buster. However, there is only one plant available for use. The plant gets XP when killing zombies, and if the plant has enough XP, it will upgrade into a stronger plant. Players need to move the plant on a cart and dodge bombs.

Dark Alchemy
In this Brain Buster, hands which come from the ground leave "evil" potions on the lawn that can give zombies helpful effects. Visually, the zombies will look bigger when they touch certain potions.

The orange potions make zombies walk faster while the pink potions give them a 25% health increase, according to their maximum health.

Played on Dark Ages - Nights 9 and 17 and Epic Quests.

Fright Theatre
In this Brain Buster, the player must defend The Little Pigs from zombies in wolf costumes. All zombies move along a predetermined path. Any plants planted at the left side of the path will be eaten. The zombies have much higher health in this Brain Buster. This is the only Brain Buster to have a completely unique lawn design.

Eye for an Eye
In this Brain Buster, the player must fight zombies only with Hypno-shrooms while "evil" potions appear.

Oak Archery
In this Brain Buster, the player must operate Oak Archer to shoot incoming zombies.

Bulb Bowling
In this Brain Buster, the player must use the four types of bulbs from the Bowling Bulb given from a conveyor belt to kill the zombies. Different types of bulbs deal different amounts of damage. The bulbs given are the basic trio of bulbs, along with a Plant Food-powered one.

Played on Big Wave Beach - Days 8 and 24.

Gluttonous Hungry Guacodile
The player controls a Guacodile line which slowly gets longer and longer. The player must try to defeat all the zombies without touching any of their other Guacodiles. The lawn is much larger, and the zombies are smaller. This is the only Brain Buster to have small zombies. This resembles the classic video game Snake.

Vasebreaker
In this Brain Buster, the player must break vases to reveal plant seed packets, zombies, or Plant Food. The player has to use the plants he/she gets from the vases to kill the zombies from the vases.

Plant Maze
The player must match orbs to attack zombies, but if you stall too long, the zombies will eat the endangered plant. There are various types of orbs, each powering a specific plant.

Dodo Adventure
The player controls a Dodo Rider Zombie past danger to get to the end. This is the 2nd brain buster in which the player controls the zombie(s) instead of the plant(s). The dodo has 3 lives. If the dodo touches the Chomper, gets bit by the Guacodile or falls in the water, the dodo will lose a life. If all 3 lives are lost, the game is over.

It's Raining Seeds
Plant packets and hypnotized zombie packets fall from the sky, the player has to plant these in the right place in order to defeat the zombies. This Brain Buster is very similar to the mini-game It's Raining Seeds from the first game.

Trap Tiles
In Part 2, there is a Brain Buster that includes the use of two types of Trap Tiles, a fire tile and a boulder tile which will activate their respective elements, damaging plants and zombies. The player has to use these tiles to their advantage to defeat the zombies. The fire tile spreads flames on one lane, which incinerates plants and zombies, while a boulder tile sends a boulder down two columns, wiping out anything in its way.

Played on Lost City - Days 22, 28, and 32.

Dark Stormy Night
In this Brain Buster, a storm is taking place in the lawn, and the screen will remain dark until lightning flashes, giving the player a brief moment to see what's happening. It is similar to Level 4-10 of Plants vs. Zombies.

Played on Lost City - Day 8.

Vasebreaker
The player must break vases to reveal plants seed packets, zombies, or Plant Food. The player has to use the plants he/she gets from the vases to kill the zombies broken from vases.

Played on Lost City - Day 16.

Unsodded
In this Brain Buster, there are only three lanes that can be planted on.

Played on Lost City - Day 21.

Beghouled
In this Brain Buster, the lawn is filled with plants and the player must swap them either horizontally or vertically to make a match of 3 or more plants which will make them disappear. Make a match of 4 or more plants will activate their Plant Food effect. Matching three armored defensive plants gives the player significantly more sun than usual.

Played on Modern Day - Day 8, 13, 22, and 27.

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

Bronze Matrix
The player must use the plants given to them via conveyor-belt. There are a certain number 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.

One Gun Guard
The player must use a turret to destroy waves of zombies.

Air Raid
The player chooses one from three plant teams and controls a flying plant to defeat incoming zombies.

Across the Lawn
Similar to the Fright Theatre, the player must defend the house from the zombies before destroying it.

Trivia

 * None of the Last Stand levels, except Ancient Egypt - Day 24, let the player use free plants.
 * Stallia could be used anywhere when it was first released, but this was fixed shortly.
 * Before the 1.7 update, Brain Busters required all lawn mowers to be un-triggered at the end of the level in order to earn a star.
 * Vasebreaker in the international version is not a Brain Buster according to PopCap. Instead, it is a separate mini-game.
 * This is supported by the fact it is not found on the map; rather, it is in its own menu.
 * In the Chinese version, it is considered a Brain Buster and is found in Big Wave Beach and Lost City.
 * Frostbite Caves, Neon Mixtape Tour, and Jurassic Marsh are the only worlds to not have their own exclusive Brain Buster.
 * However, the Chinese version of Frostbite Caves does have its own Brain Busters.
 * Lost City is the only world to have its exclusive Brain Buster on Part 2 only. It is also the only world where its boss battle is a Brain Buster.