Newspaper Zombie is a zombie encountered in Plants vs. Zombies. He is the first new zombie encountered in the Night stage, and the sixth zombie overall encountered in Adventure Mode. He has a newspaper that he holds upside-down, acting as a shield for this zombie.
When the player's plants destroy the newspaper he holds, he pauses, a question mark briefly appears above his head, and then he will make an angry sound and start raging, then quickly charge forward at the player's plants in a rage. Lobbed-shot plants, Fume-shrooms, Gloom-shrooms, and flaming peas damage both the zombie and the newspaper at the same time.
Audio
Sound
Description
Destroyed newspaper
The sounds of rage from a Newspaper Zombie after discovering his newspaper is destroyed
Almanac entry
Newspaper Zombie
His newspaper provides limited defense.
Toughness: low
Newspaper Toughness: low
Speed: normal, then fast (after losing newspaper)
Newspaper Zombie was *this* close to finishing his Sudoku puzzle. No wonder he's freaking out.
Overview
The Newspaper Zombie absorbs 350 damage per shot and his appearance changes upon absorbing 50, 100, 100 (when the newspaper is destroyed), and 250 before dying at 350 damage per shot. When the newspaper is destroyed, he starts to sprint.
The newspaper is useless against lobbed-shot plants, instant kills, Fume-shroom, and Gloom-shroom because they can bypass his newspaper. Spikeweed and Spikerock also makes his newspaper useless by attacking below him. The back head of Split Pea can also be used as it hits the behind of the zombie himself. In Wall-nut Bowling and Wall-nut Bowling 2, the zombie loses the newspaper after being hit by one Wall-nut, and dies after a second hit, like the Conehead Zombie. The Newspaper Zombie pauses and charges very quickly towards the end of the row after the player's plants destroy the newspaper, the player will need to be fast in order to kill him. Snow Pea, Winter Melon, or Ice-shroom are effective against this, as they can slow his movement, leaving plenty of time to kill him. If the player is facing multiple Newspaper Zombies, Ice-shrooms can be used effectively to paralyze and kill them, or the player could just use lobbed-shot plants (preferably Melon-pult or Winter Melon).
Gallery
Plants vs. Zombies Wiki has a gallery for Newspaper Zombie.
When its newspaper is rotated 180 degrees, the newspaper's front cover is really the back cover, and thus, the title is at the end.
In all Chinese regions, he is named "读报僵尸" (Newspaper-reading Zombie) instead of "报纸僵尸".
Newspaper Zombie has the second lowest physical health out of all the zombies in the first game (only the Imps in I, Zombie are weaker, since they only take three normal damage shots). He itself has nine health points and his newspaper also has eight health points, making his total amount of hit points seventeen.
Newspaper Zombie's glasses are available in the Xbox Live Marketplace for 80 Microsoft Points.
When Newspaper Zombie's head falls off, it is a regular Zombie's, not his own. He shares this with Jack-in-the-Box Zombie. However his glasses will still appear falling off.
If Newspaper Zombie bites a Garlic and loses his newspaper right after, he will bite the Garlic a second time before switching lanes.
If Newspaper Zombie bites a Garlic after losing his newspaper, he will not make his angry expression and he will instead move fast with a normal face.
When the player enters somewhere else and Plants vs. Zombies is still running or they simply press spacebar, when they come back Newspaper Zombie will appear above the "Resume Game" tab.
If a Newspaper Zombie gets hit by a Lawn Mower or a Giant Wall-nut, a question mark will appear over his head for a brief moment, as the newspaper gets destroyed before the zombie himself.
The title of the newspaper is "ZOMBIE," and there is also a picture of a head on it.
There is a glitch on the DS version that sometimes when the Newspaper Zombie loses his newspaper, he will suddenly run on a spot instead of looking down with a question mark.
There is also a glitch on the online version that even if he has not lost his newspaper, he will still have angry eyes when eating.
Newspaper Zombie is officially and technically considered a shield zombie because he holds the newspaper up in front of him, it protects him from damage, and it has all the traits of a standard shield. However, there is one small exception to its shield capabilities. His newspaper will protect him from |frozen peas, but will not cancel the splash effect of flaming peas. This is understandable because it is made of paper and will burn.
However, there is no burning animation of the newspaper.
In Plants vs. Zombies Adventures and Plants vs. Zombies 2, the Barrel Zombie and Pharaoh Zombie are identical in movement characteristics to the Newspaper Zombie, in the sense both move faster after their shield object is destroyed, except the Barrel Zombie runs out of embarrassment, Pharaoh Zombie runs because he is lighter, and Newspaper Zombie runs out of rage.
Newspaper Zombie can still be frozen by Snow Pea, even when it is holding its newspaper in Java version of the game.
