Catapult Zombie

The Catapult Zombie rides a vehicle that rolls onto the player's lawn, occupying and destroying plants in the first two columns (from the right). It then stops its vehicle, and starts lobbing basketballs at the last Plants (closest to the house, or the chimney on the roof) in his row. Once this zombie kills a plant, it moves forward slightly and continues attacking the next plant. When it runs out of basketballs, or if it kills all of the plants in the row, the Catapult Zombie drives towards the player's plants in a similar fashion as a Zomboni (although it does not produce Ice Trails). In the process, he will squash any plants he comes into contact with (except Spikerock). It is the 22nd Zombie (23rd if if with Zombie Yeti based on the Almanac) encountered in Adventure Mode.

Suburban Almanac Entry
 Catapult Zombie 

Catapult Zombie operates heavy machinery.

Toughness: medium

Special: lobs basketballs at your plants

Of all the things Catapult Zombie could launch with his catapult, basketballs seemed like the best and most obvious choice.

Overview
Absorbs 33 normal damage shots. Appearance changes upon absorption of of 15 and 29 normal damage shots, begins to vibrate after 33 normal damage shots, with the front bumper of the catapult showing damage before exploding.

Appearances
Adventure Mode: 5-6, 5-7, 5-9, 5-10

Mini-games: Dr. Zomboss's Revenge

Puzzle Mode: Last Stand: Roof, Last Stand: Endless

Survival Mode: Survival: Fog, Survival: Roof, all Survival (Hard) and Survival (Endless) levels

Co-op Mode: all Co-op Hard levels, Co-op Zomboss, Co-op Endless

Others: Vs. Mode

Strategy
Use Spikeweeds and Spikerock to pop the tires, and if you don't have one available, use Umbrella Leaves to knock the basketballs back while your offensive plants take care of it with it. Keep in mind that you can't use Spikeweeds and Spikerocks in any roof level. This is a good idea if you have any expensive plants like Twin Sunflowers or Cob Cannons in the back. Keep in mind that if you plant a Spikeweed or Spikerock beneath the back tire of the Catapult Zombie's vehicle it will not kill it; it appears to be steel. You also shouldn't plant any non-instant kill plant other than Spikeweed or Spikerock in the first two columns to the right if there are Catapult Zombies in the level, because it will kill them when it's approaching. In Survival: Endless, the Umbrella Leaf is a must because any Spikeweeds or Spikerocks you have previously planted will quickly be destroyed by the hordes of stacked Catapult Zombies, Zombonis, and Gargantuars. Magnet-shrooms are useless against it even though the machine is made out of metal, but you can use any freezing plants such as the Winter Melon, Snow Pea, and Ice-shroom to slow down the Catapult Zombie.

Note:Pumpkins are useless for directly defending plants against it, because the Catapult Zombie aims for the plant inside the Pumpkin first before they go for the Pumpkin.

Trivia

 * Unless the plant is a Spikeweed/Spikerock (in which case it is ignored), or it is an empty Pumpkin/Tall-nut/Wall-nut, in which case it takes many more basketballs.
 * He has 20 basketballs.
 * He is the only thing in the game that has limited projectiles.
 * It takes the Catapult Zombie 6 basketballs to destroy a plant.
 * The Catapult Zombie's health is on the high end of the zombies with "medium" toughness, with the Digger Zombie's being at the low end.
 * Although it has higher health than most plants, the Garlic only takes 6 basketballs before dying, the same as any other plant being eaten (other than defensive plants).
 * Apart from the Digger Zombie, the Catapult Zombie is the only zombie to attack the plants in reverse order (until it runs out of basketballs).
 * If there are no plants in the Catapult Zombie's row, it will drive towards the house or the chimney.
 * The Catapult Zombie, the Zomboni, the Zombie Bobsled Team (on ice), and Dr. Zomboss are the only Zombies with vehicles.
 * Killing one produces another one. Avoid using an instant kill on the same row it's on or a row next to it.
 * In the Home page of the official Plants vs. Zombies website, the Catapult Zombie is seen holding a sign saying, "Try the Zombatar!", not riding his catapult vehicle, and wearing glasses.
 * The Catapult Zombie, the Digger Zombie (while digging), the Ladder Zombie, the Gargantuar, the Giga-gargantuar, the Zomboni, and the Balloon Zombie (while on its balloon) are the only zombies that can get past a Tall-nut by itself without eating the plant.
 * If a plant is planted below the Catapult Zombie, the plant will be immediately be squashed.
 * This does not include Spikeweed, in which case it would pop the tires of the Catapult Zombie instead.
 * When the Catapult Zombie is frozen or paralyzed, the vehicle has the inability to crush plants. This is probably a glitch.
 * There's quite a resemblance between a Catapult Zombie's head and a Digger Zombies.
 * There is a oil stain on the catapult zombie`s left cheek.
 * It is unknown how a new basketball transfers from the basket of the machine to the catapult after the old one has been lobbed without any animation of the Catapult Zombie or any other Zombie taking a ball from the basket and placing it in the catapult.
 * Possibly the catapult has a mechanism that automatically transfers a new ball to the catapult after the old one is used.
 * This cannot be true though, as no such mechanism is visible.
 * Even if there was probable evidence of such a mechanism, it still would not explain how a new ball literally teleports into the catapult bypassing such a mechanism entirely and thus defeating its purpose.
 * The same thing happens with the projectiles of the lobbed-shot plants (except Cob Cannon ).
 * When seen without his Catapult, the Catapult Zombie appears to have a small dirty rag hanging out of his back pocket. There is no further reference or clues as to what he uses his rag for. He may use it to clean his Catapult and its parts.
 * The Catapult Zombie appears to be a little overweight. This may be due to the fact that he is riding around in a vehicle almost all of the time.
 * However if this was the cause for his weight than a Zomboni Zombie would look like him weight-wise.
 * The Catapult Zombie's speed is same as a flying Balloon Zombie's.