The Unused Content of Plants vs. Zombies

Before you comment, I know that Timestopper is meant to be an apple. Save some energy from slamming your fingers on the keyboard.

I see a common theme in this unused content. A lot of it might have been unused to make the game distance itself from the fact that zombies USED to be people with jobs and families, and reminding the player of that might have been too dark for the "fun" aesthetic Popcap was going for with the game Examples of that being the case are the removal of references to the jobs that the conehead and buckethead used to have before dying (which could also have been to standardize the appearance of the zombies after their armor gets removed) and the removal of the children and mom zombies (the children zombies might have been replaced by imps?? idk) In the finalized version of the game, the zombies ended up seeming more like "cRaZy!!" and "wAcKy!!" cartoon monsters who take random stuff from the streets because they're dumb, rather than actual people who died, and I think that was a good decision from Popcap

god i love stinger's design, the one used in the betas, i don't care what it does i love how it looks

One very interesting thing to mention about the Ice Level is that it was supposedly the inspiration for the Yeti Zombie, who was added alongside it for the April Fool's joke and then kept in as his current incarnation

I think if Stinger wasn't just cactus but worst she would shoots bee stingers that slowly poisons zombies over time. She can also make honey to slow down zombies in there tracks.

In the files of the pvz beta you can find things like a gargantuar helmet, golden fertilizer, golden gramophone. Those are the ones I remember, but there are more things too.

i love how they converted the name Bloom and Doom from the game's title to being part of the lore by creating Bloom and Doom co. as the manufacturer of these plants as seen in the seed packets

5:47 Bruh i cant unsee the Conehead and Bucket head designs They look so much better with theire respective jobs, its kindoff sad that it got scrapped as i even preffer these versions

3:43 - Not gonna lie, I kind of prefer the concept art for Chomper to the one that we got. How you said, it looks more organic, and for me, somehow cuter than the final version

I have no clue if it’s an intentional reference or not, but the early Split-Pea’s design immediately made me think of Invader Zim. Specifically the episode where Zim grows a giant zit and disguises it as his friend “Pustulio.” Looking it up, they even both have little purple suits!

Stinger is a nice concept, considering one of the arts is a beehive on a plant, leading to a lot of potential uses. Maybe bees would fly at zombies and sting them and, if there are no zombies on a lane, the amount of bees builds up. The timestopper isn't actually that odd looking, considering flower pot and plantern exist, it kinda looks like an apple with clock hands on it. It could be neat, if it slowed down time for a few seconds while also recharging your plants, letting you micro manage everything.

3:10 BALD BALD BALD MY EYES

I'm almost sad they didn't stick with the concept name "Zombies ate my Beans!"

I think a good alternative name for an ice-variant of Cabbage Pult would be Coldslaw

You forgot about the unused track titled 'Zombotany' which was the beta track for the Zomboss stage. It was scrapped due to it's intense part being too short (or something like that). People tend to believe it was for the zombotany minigame but the claim was disproven by Laura Shigihara.

1:38 it might be an apple cut in half. Just like how the grave buster is supposed to be like- tree bark- I think?

I actually see Duplicator Cycle's use here. It becomes useful as soon as you place the 2nd one. You can only bring a certain number of plants for a level. However, as soon as you place the 2nd Duplicator Cycle, it will look as if you brought an additional Imitater. Imagine choosing Doom-shroom for a level and having 5 Duplicator Cycles on the lawn. With enough sun, you can immediately end the game lmao.

"one leaf sticking out of a clock means its a plant species?" magne-shroom is literally just a magnet also, flower pot is literally a pot with 2 LEAVES sticking out of it, time stopper would definitely fit in the game

Underrated content. Keep grinding my man.

"Zombies Ate My Garden" would have been a GOAT'ed title fr.