Jalapeno


 * For other uses, see Jalapeno (disambiguation).

Jalapeno is an instant-kill plant available in both main series Plants vs. Zombies games. When planted, he will explode and cover the lane he is placed on in fire, dealing 90 normal damage shots worth of damage to and removing all ice-based effect from every enemy in the lane. He can now be purchased in Plants vs Zombies 2 for 100 gems permanently.

Origins
Jalapeno is based on the real life Jalapeño, a cultivar of the plant Capsicum annuum valued for its spicy flavor, referring to the fact that Jalapeno is hot and spicy, and when he explodes he defeats a whole lane of zombies with fire.

Plants vs. Zombies
Jalapeno is obtained after beating Level 3-5. Aside from the primary effect, Jalapeno can also melt the Zomboni's ice trail and Dr. Zomboss' iceballs, and remove ice-based effect from zombies.

Plants vs. Zombies 2
Jalapeno returns as a premium plant available for purchase at $2.99 (now 100 gems). In the Frostbite Caves, Jalapeno is also capable of melting frozen blocks instantly regardless of health and damage any trapped zombie directly, unlike other instant plants which are weakened by frozen blocks.

After the 4.0 update, Jalapeno is used to represent the difficulty of all the worlds except for the Player's House, ranging from one to five.

Plants vs. Zombies
Jalapeno

Jalapenos destroy an entire lane of zombies.

Damage: massive

Range: all zombies in a lane

Usage: single use, instant

"NNNNNGGGGG!!!!!!!!" Jalapeno says. He's not going to explode, not this time. But soon. Oh, so soon. It's close. He knows it, he can feel it, his whole life's been leading up to this moment.

Cost: 125

Recharge: very slow

Level upgrade
Note: Jalapeno can't be upgraded to level 4.

Strategies
Jalapeno focuses on dealing heavy damage to all enemies on a specific lane, as opposed to a limited area over multiple lanes like Cherry Bomb. Because of this, Jalapeno will be more suited for quickly neutralizing threats that have come far into the player's defense such as Imps being thrown by Gargantuars, rather than general crowd control. The fire-based nature of Jalapeno can be considered to be both a blessing and a curse: While this means Jalapeno is highly useful against several ice-based threats, this also means any surviving enemies, predominantly Gargantuars, will have their freezing effect removed if previously frozen, rendering Ice-shroom, Cold Snapdragon's Plant Food ability and Iceberg Lettuce useless.

Jalapeno can benefit from use of Imitater, as it will effectively halve the recharge time and allow more liberal use of the plant. Creating choke points via the use of Garlic or/and Sweet Potato can also boost Jalapeno's efficiency by allowing him to damage more zombies.

Plants vs. Zombies
Jalapeno is a useful plant against Zomboni as he is capable of melting the ice trail, freeing space for planting and preventing Zombie Bobsled Teams from entering. He is also a useful tool for destroying ladders placed by Ladder Zombies; certain strategies in Survival: Endless utilize ladders against thrown Imps however, and Jalapeno should never used in these cases, as the Doom-shroom and Coffee Bean combo may be better, though leaving a crater.

Level 5-10
Jalapenos is provided in this level as the only means of neutralizing Dr. Zomboss's iceball attack. Unlike Ice-shroom which can be placed anywhere on the lawn to negate fireball, Jalapeno must be planted on the lane where the iceball is spawned. The player should exercise moderation when using Jalapeno, and always keep a stock in case more dangerous enemies arrive, or an iceball is spawned. Using Jalapeno while the Zombot's head is down can also deal heavy damage and greatly speed up the fight. However, it's not recommended to use him while it is frozen or else the Zombot will unfreeze.

Column Like You See 'Em mini-game
Jalapenos can be planted in a column of pots to effectively wipe the entire screen of enemies, and heavily damage any surviving Gargantuars. These are usually obtained once or twice, so they should be saved for either when huge waves two and three when Gargantuars appear or when Ladder Zombies have placed ladders on your defensive plants. Jalapenos will also melt the ladders placed on the defensive plants, if any. Jalapeno cannot be used however, if the player plans to obtain the Chilli Free achievement.

General
Jalapeno can be used to neutralize Barrel Roller Zombies while preventing the barrels from releasing Imp Pirate Zombies. It is also useful for cleaning up tombstones in Ancient Egypt and the Dark Ages, or ice block in the Frostbite Caves - the latter is a special case, as unlike most other instant plants which will only destroy the ice and leave the trapped zombie mostly unscathed, Jalapeno can instantly melt the ice and kill the zombie at once.

It should be noted that because he attacks by using fire, Imp Dragon Zombies are immune to his attack, therefore making him useless against them.

Specific to Plants vs. Zombies

 * There are two achievements that involve him, Chill Out and Chilli Free. One involves the player using him and the other involves the player not using him, respectively.
 * He can clear a lane of daisies made by killed zombies (if "daisies" was typed).
 * In the Suburban Almanac, he appears to be shaking fast while in the Zen Garden he shakes slowly. However, on the iOS and Android versions, he shakes fast in the Zen Garden. He will also shake fast if the player gives him chocolate (only when he is happy).
 * If he or any other explosive plant (with the exception of Potato Mine) is used to destroy a zombie in ZomBotany, he will turn the zombie black, but he will not fall into ashes.
 * A Chili Pepper T-shirt is available in the Xbox Live Marketplace. It costs 80 Microsoft Points, and is a white T-shirt with a picture of the Jalapeno on it.

Specific to Plants vs. Zombies 2

 * Jalapeno and his costume, a park ranger hat, is also meant to be ironic, since park rangers try to stop fires while he literally fights with fire.
 * This also applies with Snapdragon and one of his costume, a fireman helmet.
 * His explosion plays additional sounds absent from the previous game. He makes a "fweeee" sound and maracas during the explosion.
 * Upon Neon Mixtape Tour Side B's release, he makes an appearance on the world map as a difficulty rating for the different worlds.
 * On March 16, 2017, he became one of 4 premium plants to be permanently purchasable with 100 gems, along with Squash, Hypno-shroom and Pea-nut.

Specific to Chinese version of Plants vs. Zombies 2

 * He is one of three instant-use plants that has level upgrades, the other being Cherry Bomb and Grapeshot.