Plants vs. Zombies/Concepts

History repeats itself but it always gets the details wrong.

The content and images in this article are not fake. They are either unused concepts or scrapped features.

"The future's not what it used to be! There's more of it!"

This article is about upcoming or scrapped features in the respective game. Do not add false information. If you do, it may result in a warning or even a block.

"He just doesn't understand how the zombies get up on the roof in the first place." ^[1]

This page contains information from unknown sources which can make its information unreliable. Please supplement them if you have any.

This page records the beta content of Plants vs. Zombies. There are unused graphics, texts, and mini-games that still remain in the game's coding. There are also earlier ideas for the game. These concepts began production in 2005.

Installable beta versions[]

As of October 7, 2021, two beta versions have now been uploaded to the Internet Archive. Version 0.1.1.1014 (named "Bloom & Doom") dated December 2, 2008 can be found here while version 0.9.9.1029 dated February 17, 2009 can be found here. Hacking is required to play these demos, as they attempt to contact a beta server that has since been shut down to access the game.

Early names[]

Before the game came out, PopCap came up with many different names for it, but ultimately Plants vs. Zombies was chosen.^[1] Some of the scrapped names still were reused later.

Concept art[]

As seen in earlier concept art for the game, the player was going to fight against aliens rather than zombies. This concept is used from another PopCap game, Insaniquarium. Some sketches show plants that did not appear in the final version. It also suggests that Jalapeno was going to be bound to the ground. Some of the plants that have not left the concept stage are: a carrot plant, a small cherry (similar to Cherry Bomb), what seems to be a dandelion, a Venus flytrap plant (that seems similar to multiple Chompers), an unknown plant with a gun and an unknown plant with tentacles (possibly a predecessor to Gloom-shroom).

George Fan has also posted some concept art of the plants for the 15th anniversary of Plants vs. Zombies.

Plants vs. Zombies: Kingdom[]

These plants were planned to appear in a Chinese-exclusive game Plants vs. Zombies: Kingdom Edition, but were scrapped along with the game. Some of them returned in Plants vs. Zombies: All Stars. From left to right, top to bottom, translated from All Stars, their names are: Morning Glory, Pineapple, Blueberries, Ball Cactus, Apple, and Pomegranate.

Unused text[]

We need more gems and sprouts.

This section is currently under construction. You can help expand it; it's your choice.

Most of the text is stored in main.pak/properties/LawnStrings.txt.

[ADVICE_SCARY_POTTER_TUTORIAL]
TEMP - Dave put more vases on your lawn!

[ADVICE_SHOVEL_REFRESH]
The shovel needs time to refresh before digging again

In the final game, the shovel can always be used instantly, probably due to it being to difficult to deal with.

[ADVICE_3_IN_A_ROW]
More vases incoming!
{STREAK} of 3 waves cleared

These lines were probably used in Level 4-5 (Vasebreaker) before Crazy Dave's proper dialog was implemented.

[ADVICE_I_ZOMBIE_PLANTS_NOT_REAL]
Do not be alarmed
Plants are not real

This text was probably used in I, Zombie puzzles before Crazy Dave's proper introductions were implemented.

[UNLOCKED_SURVIVAL_MODE]
Survival mode unlocked!
Play it from the main menu!

This suggests that Survival mode was once a from a present item. It's not unlocked from a present item anymore, so this text goes unused.

[WIN_MESSAGE1]
You have defeated the Boss Zombie!

[WIN_MESSAGE2]
Congratulations!  You have most triumphantly fended off the zombie attack!  Your lawn is safe... for now!

This message was used in the pre-GOTY version, but became unused in the GOTY version; when you beat the final boss, the "achievements unlocked" screen will appear, but this message is not displayed.

Warning

Unknown Text, could have been a placeholder for Dave's speech before the Zomboss Fight.

[VASE]
Mysterious Vase

Possibly used for the unused vase item you can spawn in-game, It works like the gardening can in 5-5, but unlocks vasebreaker, and I, Zombie. Because of the vase texture used when summoned, I, Zombie was most likely thought of after vasebreaker was created, thus the reason for the exclusion of I, Zombie in puzzle mode in most of these early texts.

[FOUND_VASE]
You found a Mysterious Vase!

Probably connected to the previous message.

[VASE_DESCRIPTION]
Now you can play
Vasebreaker Mode!

In the final game, Vasebreaker and I, Zombie are introduced at the same time. It was possibly different, as I, Zombie might have been thought of after these messages were scrapped.

[MORE_SEEDS_HEADER]
More seeds?

[MORE_SEEDS_BODY]
Would you like to be able to plant more kinds of seeds?

These lines were probably used when the player was offered to increase the number of their seed slots before Crazy Dave's dialog was introduced.

[ZOMBATAR_FINISHED_WARNING_HEADER]
WARNING!

Another warning, but this time a Zombatar warning. Something to note is that the GOTY version of the game came after the OG version, so this being here is strange.

[REPLAY_LEVEL_BODY]
Do you wish to replay level 3-4?

Shown when the demo is completed, as it ends on 3-4.

[SCARY_POTTER_10]
Vasebreaker Facebreaker

An unused Vasebreaker level. This possibly could have been the last Vasebreaker level, before endless replaced it.

[SQUIRRELS]
Squirrels

A leftover from the cut Squirrel minigame.

[EXPLODE_O_NUT_TOOLTIP]
Explodes on contact

A tool-tip for the Explode-o-nut. Can be viewed in the almanac using hacks, but displays incorrectly

Trivia[]

Dog Walking Zombie, Dog Zombie, and Propeller Zombie were going to appear in the game but were taken out and there are no sprites for them but only artwork.
The shovel had to be recharged before it could be used again.
Survival Mode was going to be available from a present item but now it is unlocked after beating Adventure Mode for the first time.
There was supposed to be a Mysterious Vase that unlocks Vasebreaker mode, but in the final game, both Vasebreaker and I, Zombie are unlocked at the same time.

Unused graphics[]

Unused vase[]

PlantsvsZombies PC Scary Pot — An unused with other vase sprites

An unused feature in Vasebreaker shows that a third Zombie Vase was originally intended to be part of the game, which likely would have spawned Zombies or Gargantuars. However, this feature was not implemented in the final release. It is possible to edit this feature into the game through hacking.

The unused zombie vase later makes its debut in Plants vs. Zombies 2 using a different design and color, and always spawns a Vase Gargantuar.

Gallery[]

Unused plants[]

Plant	Description	Sun cost	Recharge	Additional notes
Cherry Hover-bomb	Omb [sic] that can be planted atop other plants	175	Very slow	Shares design with beta illustrations of Cherry Bomb and would have functioned similarly. Was likely scraped due to redundancy.
Duplicator Cycler	Rows seed packets	150	Very slow	Repeatedly cycles through the entirety of the seed packet bar. The player can then click on the seed packet of the plant that they want to place on the lawn. After the plant is placed, the Duplicator Cycler enters cooldown for 50 seconds. Was likely scrapped in favor of Imitater, which can copy a single selected plant and also inherit its recharge time.
Iceberg Lettuce	Hurls ice-cold lettuce, which slows the enemy down	200	Slow	Is for all intents and purposes the Snow Pea equivalent to Cabbage-pult. Was likely scrapped due to Winter Melon fulfilling the role of an ice-based lobber plant and being more preferable in gameplay. Not to be confused with the other plant of the same name from the game's sequel.
Stinger	Shoots bees at balloon zombies	125	Slow	Can only target flying zombies and can also be planted on top of other plants. Has official artwork by Rich Werner and was scrapped in favor of Cactus^[2]
Time Stopper	Instantly recharges your other seeds	50	Fast	Momentarily pauses all activity on the lawn when played, allowing all of the player's seed packets to get some extra recharge time. Was scrapped in favor of Imitater because George Fan deemed the mechanics of this plant to be too uninteresting. Was later added to PVZ: Hybrid Edition
Tuber	Unknown	100	Unknown	Initially, players were going to water and pluck plants known as "Tubers." This was deemed too tedious, and so the Sunflower and the concept of collecting Sun was created.
Yampoline	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Zombies would walk over it and they would get bounced forward, turning every zombie into a Pole Vaulting Zombie. Was scrapped due to essentially boosting zombies.
Cucumber	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	A sketch of a plant drawn by George Fan while Plants vs. Zombies was still in development. George Fan also said in X:We never found a place in PvZ for the turnip, nor did we find a place for the cucumber, which was a pixel version of a sketch I drew while sitting on a plane. It's too bad because I rather like the way the cucumber looks.

Gallery[]

Almanac entries[]

Unused zombies[]

Zombie	Description*	Health	Additional notes
Dog Walking Zombie	Dog Walking Zombie description	200	Probably was re-worked into Newspaper Zombie.
Dog Zombie	Dog Zombie description	280	Its height allows it to avoid projectiles fired by straight shooter plants
Propeller Zombie	Propeller Zombie description	420?	The rotor can be destroyed by Cactus, stolen by Magnet-shroom, and Blover removes it when airborne. Changed To Balloon Zombie In The Final Release which isn't vulnerable to Magnet-shroom.

*All zombies listed only have placeholder text for their descriptions

Gallery[]

Early and unused designs[]

Early beta illustrations for various plants and zombies as well as concept art by Plants vs. Zombies artist Rich Werner, courtesy of his official website.

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

The concept of Garlic makes it look like a vampire, which is ironic since vampires traditionally have a weakness to garlic.
Some plants have armor on their concept art page.
The Pole Vaulting Zombie concept appears to be a zombie with a concussion, wearing a hospital gown.
Magnet-shroom was going to look like a mushroom with a magnet welded to its head.
Sea-shroom was originally going to have no cap and have leaves or seaweed.
There was a "timestopper plant" that was basically an apple as a clock face, which was removed because it made the game unfun to play while that ability was in effect. It was most likely changed to Ice-shroom.
The beehive plant, named "Stinger"^[2], originally functioned just like Cactus, countering a propeller zombie. The developers replaced the zombie with Balloon Zombie, and, quoting George Fan, "the “pointiness” of the projectile was more important than the “flyingness”, which lead to it being replaced by Cactus.
Split Pea's head-like-growth was originally going to have larger eyes, a small peashooter-like leaf, and what appears to be its own body dangling off its head.
The Gargantuar's unused helmet's design is a reference to Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome's Master-Blaster, hence the entire design references the imp being The Brains, Master, and the Gargantuar being The Brawn, Blaster.

Earlier gameplay[]

As seen in earlier screenshots of the game, Snow Pea was going to cost 200 sun, Tangle Kelp was going to be a ground plant, and plants were given via conveyor style, but the player still needed sun to plant them. Possibly, players were going to select the rating of getting plants on the conveyor belt. Also, in October 2007, when the name was "Lawn of the Dead", the progress bar was shorter, the Sunflower costed 100 sun, the sun counter was near the right side of the screen, the lawn was zoomed in more, the lawnmowers were closer to the grass, and Potato Mine cost 50 sun instead of 25 sun and was bigger, as wide as a grass tile. Like the Snow Pea, Chomper originally costed 200 sun, and in an ice world (most likely Ice Level), the Wall-nut was seen costing 75 sun.

Gallery[]

Plants vs. Zombies Beta Prototype Builds Footage- July 2006 v1.0 & Lawn of the Dead April 1 2008

Limbo Page[]

Main article: Limbo Page

LimboPageComplete — The Limbo Page Almost completed. If you spawn a money bag during Zen Garden, You can beat it. Other than that it is complete.

The Limbo Page is a hidden amount of data in the PC version of Plants vs. Zombies that contains ten mini-games, along with four variations on Survival: Endless, that were going to be added to the game, but were eventually canceled and removed from the game. It is possible to access this page via using third-party memory editing programs such as Cheat Engine and changing specific data values.

Unused achievements (GOTY only)[]

All but Sultan of Spin, which was an unused achievement on the PC version, were originally intended for the iOS version but were removed. They can still be found in the codes.

Sultan of Spin - Upgrade all of your plants in Beghouled Twist.
Disrespect The Dead - Remove 10 graves during a single nighttime level.
Heavy Weapons - Complete Last Stand using only Cob Cannons to kill zombies.
Zen Profit - Earn a total of 100,000 coins through your Zen Garden.
May Not Contain Nuts - Defeat a nighttime level without using Wall-nuts or Tall-nuts.
Even Morticulturalist - Use every Plant at least once.
Beat It - Defeat a Dancing Zombie before he summons Backup Dancers.
Gold Farmer - Plant 5 Marigolds and a Gold Magnet in a single level.
Face To Face - Complete a level with Digger Zombies without any of them reaching the left side of your lawn.