Banana Launcher

For the version in Plants vs. Zombies Heroes, see Banana Launcher.

Banana Launcher
Banana Launchers can fire explosive bananas at any tile on the lawn.
Almanac statistics
Sun cost	500
Recharge	5 seconds
Damage	1200 damage per shot in a 1x3 area
Area	Tile
Range	Anywhere on lawn
Usage	Tap to arm, tap on target tile to fire
Special	On impact, explodes in small area
Family	Arma-mint
In-game statistics
In-game recharge	Fast
Rarity (China)	Legendary
Unlocked	Beating Big Wave Beach - Day 27
Unlocked (China)	Opening red envelopes, Collecting 10 Banana Launcher Puzzle Pieces
Costumes
It's important to avoid stereotyping as much as possible. Stereotypes are often flat-out wrong. And also hurtful. But honestly ... Banana Launcher is TOTALLY bananas.

Banana Launcher is the fifth and the last plant obtained in Big Wave Beach of Plants vs. Zombies 2. He attacks in a similar way to the Cob Cannon, as the player can tap on it to arm it, then aim at any tile on the lawn to fire an explosive banana that deals 1200 damage per shot to all zombies in a 1x3 area. After firing, Banana Launcher will be disabled for 20 seconds before he can fire again.

Origins

Banana Launcher is based on the banana, a fruit produced by several kinds of large herbaceous flowering plants in the genus Musa. More specifically, Banana Launcher is based on a Dessert banana, most specifically a Cavendish Banana, due to the elongated cresent shape and light yellow insides.

Banana Launcher's almanac flavor text references the idiom "Totally bananas", meaning "very crazy".

Almanac entry

Note: The stats shown below only apply to Level 1.

Banana Launcher	SUN COST 500 RECHARGE 5 SUN COST: 500 RECHARGE: 5 TOUGHNESS 300 DAMAGE 1200 TOUGHNESS: 300 DAMAGE: 1200 AREA Tile FIRING RATE 20 AREA: Tile FIRING RATE: 20 FAMILY Arma-mint FAMILY: Arma-mint Banana Launchers can fire explosive bananas at any tile on the lawn. Usage: tap to arm, tap on target tile to fire Range: anywhere on lawn Special: on impact, explodes in small area It's important to avoid stereotyping as much as possible. Stereotypes are often flat-out wrong. And also hurtful. But honestly ... Banana Launcher is TOTALLY bananas.

Banana Launcher

		SUN COST 500			RECHARGE 5

SUN COST: 500
RECHARGE: 5

		TOUGHNESS 300			DAMAGE 1200

TOUGHNESS: 300
DAMAGE: 1200

		AREA Tile			FIRING RATE 20

AREA: Tile
FIRING RATE: 20

		FAMILY Arma-mint

FAMILY: Arma-mint

Banana Launchers can fire explosive bananas at any tile on the lawn.

Usage: tap to arm, tap on target tile to fire
Range: anywhere on lawn
Special: on impact, explodes in small area

It's important to avoid stereotyping as much as possible. Stereotypes are often flat-out wrong. And also hurtful. But honestly ... Banana Launcher is TOTALLY bananas.

Upgrades

Plant Food effect

Plant Food ability (animated)

When given Plant Food, he will launch four explosive bananas at random targets on the lawn, then he must recharge. In the Chinese version, he will fire five bananas.

Arma-mint effect

When boosted by Arma-mint, Banana Launcher will do an additional 2000 DPS with its bananas, and its reload time will be decreased to two seconds.

Level upgrade

Level	Seed Packets	Coins	Upgrades
			Sun Cost	Recharge (Fast)	Toughness (Typical)	Damage (Massive)	Firing Rate (Slow)	Area
1	0	0	500	5 seconds	300 dps	1200 dps	20 seconds	Tile
2	10	1,000	475	5 seconds	350 dps	1250 dps	19 seconds
3	75	5,000	475	4.5 seconds	400 dps	1300 dps	18 seconds
4	200	10,000	450	4.5 seconds	450 dps	1400 dps	17 seconds
5	400	20,000	450	4 seconds	550 dps	1500 dps	16 seconds
6	750	30,000	425	4 seconds	600 dps	1600 dps	15 seconds
7	1,000	40,000	425	3.5 seconds	650 dps	1700 dps	14 seconds
8	1,250	50,000	400	3.5 seconds	700 dps	1800 dps	13 seconds
9	1,500	60,000	375	3 seconds	800 dps	1900 dps	13 seconds
10	2,000	75,000	350	3 seconds	900 dps	2000 dps	12 seconds

Mastery upgrade

• Chance to Boost
• Damage Pierce

Level upgrade (China only)

Level	Upgrades	Description
	Autoloading 自动装填	Reloads 25% faster.
	Combat Training 战斗训练	Banana Launcher gains 50% more attack power and health (150% of initial).
	Speedy Transport 快速输弹	Reloads 50% faster.
	Cell Activation 细胞活化	Banana Launcher gains another 50% more attack power and health (200% of initial).
	Ability Awaken 能力觉醒	Banana Launcher may be boosted when planted.
	Fighting Power 战斗能力	Banana Launcher gains another 50% more attack power and health (250% of initial).
	Time Missile 定时导弹	Banana Launcher has a chance to regenerate time missiles that will be inserted into the ground after hitting the zombie and explode after an amount of time.
	Fighting Power 战斗能力	Banana Launcher gains another 50% more attack power and health (300% of initial).

Costumed (China only)

He now launches five normal bananas and a flaming banana which creates an explosion that deals more damage.

Strategies

Compared to other controllable plants, Banana Launcher is special in that the player is given the freedom to launch his payload on any tile on the screen, regardless of any possible obstruction between the plant and the designated position, similar to Missile Toe and Holly Barrier. This makes Banana Launcher excellent for eliminating high threat targets such as Zombie Kings, Fisherman Zombies, and Imp Cannons that would normally be heavily protected. His main weaknesses are his massive 500 sun cost and his slow reload, which makes him an impractical choice in normal levels.

In Big Wave Beach, Banana Launcher can be used as an improvised countermeasure against Octo Zombies. Not only is it capable of neutralizing them before they can throw their octopi, if the player is fast enough, he can also destroy thrown octopi from anywhere and free the trapped plant. The latter is not recommended, though, as Banana Launcher takes much longer to recharge than the time taken for the Octo Zombie to throw another octopus, even when the zombie is slowed.

Banana Launcher's high damage capability makes him a powerful artillery weapon: Most high health zombies such as Knight Zombies, Blockhead Zombies, Mecha-Football Zombies, and Cavalry Zombies can only survive up to two bananas, while certain Gargantuars can take up to three (Jurassic Gargantuar take up to 5 hits). His projectile can not be deflected by any means, so Banana Launcher is effective against Jester Zombies and Parasol Zombies.

Another strategy is to use Banana Launcher with plants that can clump zombies together: Sweet Potato, Garlic, Chard Guard, Hurrikale and Thyme Warp are all capable of funneling or clumping the horde together, which allows Banana Launcher to hit more enemies. It's also a good idea to use blocking plants such as Tall-nuts and Primal Wall-nuts to give Banana Launcher time to recharge.

Plants that can control the speed of the zombies such as Winter Melon and Sap-fling are also good options, as they not only cause zombies to clump together, increasing the number of zombies damaged by the projectile, but also allow Banana Launcher to reload his projectile safely.

Arma-mint can be used to allow the Banana Launcher to greatly accelerate his reload.

Related achievement

	Banana Storm Complete a Beach level using only Banana Launchers to destroy zombies

Gallery

Plants vs. Zombies Wiki has a gallery for Banana Launcher.

Visit this page to see it.

Trivia

• He cannot be planted on minecarts, due to issues associated with a tap either moving the mine cart, or activating the target of Banana Launcher. If the player tries to plant him on a minecart, the game will say "Bananas are too slippery for minecarts." Additionally, since he can target anything anywhere, a minecart with him is a waste of space.
  • This is also true with Missile Toe.
  • However, he can be planted on minecarts in the Chinese version.
• In Big Wave Beach - Day 23, the player can launch a banana from the Banana Launcher while viewing the lawn from the seed selection screen. However, his sprite will become bugged and doesn't change.
• Banana Launcher is one of the few plants that talk, saying "Banana" when firing normally and saying "ba-ba-ba Banana" when using Plant Food.
• The player used to be able to destroy graves using Banana Launcher on any Last Stand level before tapping "Let's Rock". However, it is no longer possible after the 3.1.1 update.
  • The player was also able to fire bananas after the level has ended and the reward has dropped. This was also fixed in the 3.1.1 update.
• His eyes are red and straight in the bingo card while his in-game appearance has brown eyes and they are crossed. His smile in the bingo card is also different from the one he has in-game.
• His costume has the same design as the pajamas on the characters in Bananas in Pyjamas, despite being a beach towel.
• If he launches a banana at the very second that the level is completed, his sprite will become bugged and doesn't change.
• In the Chinese version, when fed with Plant Food, he will make firework noises when it launches its bananas.
  • He also dealt damage in a 3x3 area in the Chinese version, but this was fixed in the 1.4.2 update.
• In the almanac in the Chinese version, there's a glitch that when you click on Banana Launcher Level 4 and Guacodile at the same time, you will see that Banana Launcher's banana will be seen in Guacodile action.

See also

• Cob Cannon
• Banana Storm
• Missile Toe
• Holly Barrier