Plants vs. Zombies 2: It's About Time/Zombies
This is a sub-page of Plants vs. Zombies 2: It's About Time.
There have been many zombies that are either unused or went through changes.
Contents
Unused Zombies
Ancient Egypt
Cleopatra Zombie
An unused zombie based on Cleopatra that was meant to appear in Ancient Egypt. She was meant to be used by a scrapped event, appearing in random Ancient Egypt levels similar to the Treasure Yeti. She would have summoned zombies like the Dancer Zombie in the first game, having them appear in a diamond pattern. However, there are 4 unused patterns, those being square, blocker, vertical, and horizontal.
Cleopatra Zombie
Cleopatra Zombie Sprites
Idle
Walk
Eat
Summoning zombies
Death
Used diamond spawn pattern
Square spawn pattern
Blocker spawn pattern
Vertical spawn pattern
Horizontal spawn pattern
Some text existed for the Cleopatra Zombie:
[CLEOPATRA_EVENT_NOTIFICATION]
It's a Cleopatra.
[NEW_HERO_EVENT_HEADER]
A Wild Hero Event Appears!
[EGYPT_EVENT_LEVEL_NAME]
Ancient Egypt - Event {LEVEL_NUMBER}
Far Future
Zombot Temporal-tron Mark I
Versions 1.3.2 to 2.0.1 had text for an unused Zombot that would have been encounter in Far Future called Zombot Temporal-tron Mark I. It would have spawned zombies from different time periods. This may have been intended to be fought in the Zomboss Test Lab brain busters from beta Far Future.
[FUTURE_ZOMBOSS]
Zombot Temporal-tron Mark I
[FUTURE_ZOMBOSS_DESCRIPTION]
{KEYWORD}Special: {STAT}summons zombies from different time periods
{FLAVOR}Dr. Zomboss had trouble deciding which time period's styling would be best for the Temporal-tron, so he just went with all of them.
[FUTURE_ZOMBOSS_DESCRIPTION_HEADER]
The Power Tile crushing creation from the Far Future.
[ZOMBOSS]
Dr. Edgar Zomboss
[ZOMBOSS_DESCRIPTION]
{KEYWORD}Intelligence: {STAT}extreme
{FLAVOR}Edgar George Zomboss achieved his Doctorate in Thanatology in only two years. Quickly mastering thanatological technology, he built his fearsome Zombot and set about establishing absolute dominance of his local subdivision.
[ZOMBOSS_DESCRIPTION_HEADER]
Dr. Zomboss rules them all.
In Android app ID 2, sprites of the Zombot from Plants vs. Zombies were added to the UNSORTEDIMAGES sprite sheet. These may have been used as a placeholder for this early Zombot.
Head
Glow
Arm
Target
Deflector Zombie
A veteran version of the Shield Zombie meant for Far Future's expansion. Its shield is completely immune to any damage, requiring you to stun the Deflector Zombie with an E.M.Peach. This zombie recovers from being stunned quicker than the normal Shield Zombie. According to its description, its shield was supposed to stretch across 5 rows, however this doesn't actually happen in game.
[ZOMBIE_FUTURE_PROTECTOR_VETERAN]
Deflector Zombie
[ZOMBIE_FUTURE_PROTECTOR_VETERAN_DESCRIPTION]
{KEYWORD}Special: {STAT}shield regenerates over time
{FLAVOR}Deflector Zombie saw what Shield Zombie was doing and said to himself, "BRAAAAAAINS," because that's really the only word zombies know.
[ZOMBIE_FUTURE_PROTECTOR_VETERAN_DESCRIPTION_HEADER]
Deflector Zombie protects himself with a powerful force field that stretches across 5 rows.
Veteran Robo-Cone Zombie
A veteran version of the Robo-Cone Zombie meant for Far Future's expansion. It has more health and moves and eats faster.
Dark Ages
Imp Variants
There are 3 scrapped armor variants of the Dark Ages Imps, being Conehead, Buckethead, and Crown Imps.
Barrel Zombie
Based off a zombie from the now defunct Facebook game Plants vs. Zombies Adventures, this zombie would've behaved similar to the Pharaoh Zombie, having a barrel that when broken, causes the Barrel Zombie to move faster. This zombie's property sheet refers to it as "ZombieHelmDroppedSprinter".
Sprites and animations existed for this zombie in Android version ID 4.
Barrel Zombie
Barrel Zombie (Naked)
Barrel Zombie Sprites
Idle
Walk
Eat
Barrel destroyed
Idle (Naked)
Naked run transition
Run (Naked)
Eat (Naked)
Death
A video of the Barrel Zombie in action. It uses sounds of the Pharaoh Zombie and the Camel Zombie as placeholders. There are a few bugs related to this zombie, like how when killed, it will walk right past any plants for a second before displaying its death animation, or how if it is killed before its barrel break animation is able to finish playing (this can easily be done by freezing it with an Iceberg Lettuce or by using Plant Food to kill it), its death animation will play slower than it is supposed to.
Thief Zombie
This zombie would have worked somewhat similar to the Bungee Zombie from PvZ1, except it would steal the rightmost plant of a lane and then walk away from the player's house. If you manage to kill the zombie before it can get away, it will drop the plant it stole behind it.
The Chinese exclusive WeChat mini program Plants vs. Zombies 2: Renaissance Age contained a Thief Zombie that used the sprites meant for this zombie. There was also a leak of fla files in 2024 that included this zombie and its animations, confirming that PvZ2 Renaissance Age used its design.
Thief Zombie
Thief Zombie sprites
Thief Zombie animations (click to play gif)
Thief Zombie design in Plants vs. Zombies 2: Renaissance Age
Thief Zombie concept art
Blacksmith Zombie
This zombie would have upgraded the armor of zombies on the lawn. It enters carrying an anvil, which it then drops on the first column it enters. It uses the anvil to craft armor, taking 5 seconds for each (2 seconds for the first armor piece), which can then be given to a random zombie once. This will upgrade the zombie's armor, making Basics become Coneheads, Coneheads become Bucketheads, and Buckethead Peasants become Crowned/Knights (Knight Zombies originally wore a crown). It can do this up to a total of 5 times or until 40 seconds have passed without it giving out 5 armor pieces (it will wait for a zombie to spawn to give its last armor piece to if this happens), after which the anvil will break and the zombie will start walking towards your house. This zombie was likely reworked into the King Zombie.
A leak of fla files in 2024 included a design and animations for this zombie, with it using uncolored placeholder sprites.
Blacksmith Zombie
Blacksmith Zombie using anvil
Blacksmith Zombie sprites
Blacksmith Zombie animations (click to play gif)
Blacksmith Zombie concept art
Blacksmith Zombie sketches
Gravedropper Zombie
This zombie carried a grave with it that absorbs damage and would slam the grave into the ground when reaching a plant, after which it would walk faster. The concept of smashing something into a plant was reused for the Surfer Zombie.
A leak of fla files in 2024 included a design and animations for this zombie. It uses the same design as the placeholder Peasant Zombie, but is carrying a gravestone.
Gravedropper Zombie
Gravedropper Zombie sprites
Gravedropper Zombie Animations (click to play gif)
Gravedropper Zombie concept art
Knight Zombie
Although a Knight Zombie does exist in the final Dark Ages, this version worked differently. When walking, it would deflect straight shot projectiles to other lanes, hitting other zombies, and required lobbed projectiles to be damaged. When eating, this would swap, with lobbed projectiles being bounced back to hit zombies behind it and straight shot projectiles being able to damage it.
Concept art 1
Concept art 2
Concept art 3
Peasant Rally Zombie
A zombie meant to be used in the scrapped Dark Ages expansion, being the Rally zombie of the expansion.
Peasant Rally Zombie
Peasant Rally Zombie Sprites
Peasant Rally Zombie animations (click to play gif)
Current Almanac Icon
Old Almanac Icon
Veteran Wizard Zombie
A zombie meant to be used in the scrapped Dark Ages expansion, being a veteran version of the Wizard Zombie. It turns plants into sheep much more frequently than the normal Wizard Zombie.
Veteran Wizard Zombie
Veteran Wizard Zombie sprites
Current Almanac Icon
Old Almanac Icon
Alternate design with a green orb
Veteran King Zombie
A zombie meant to be used in the scrapped Dark Ages expansion, being a veteran version of the King Zombie.
Frostbite Caves
Mammoth-Head Zombie
A zombie meant to be used in the scrapped Frostbite Caves expansion, being the Brickhead zombie of the expansion. At first this zombie's design was leaked sometime in 2019, but then in the 10.4 update its sprites were added to the games files, although it still lacks code. This zombie would be reused in the Chinese version of PvZ2 in the Frostbite Caves Resurgence Secret Realm, although with a slightly edited design.
Mammoth-Head Zombie
Mammoth-Head Zombie Sprites
Mammoth-Head Zombie in Chinese PvZ2
Veteran Hunter Zombie
A zombie meant to be used in the scrapped Frostbite Caves expansion, being a veteran version of the Hunter Zombie. This zombie's design was leaked sometime in 2019. It was later reused in the Chinese version of PvZ2 in the Frostbite Caves Resurgence Secret Realm as the Elite Hunter Zombie, although with a slightly edited design.
Veteran Hunter Zombie
Elite Hunter Zombie in Chinese PvZ2
Veteran Weasel Hoarder
A zombie meant to be used in the scrapped Frostbite Caves expansion, being a veteran version of the Weasel Hoarder. This zombie's design was leaked sometime in 2019. It was later reused in the Chinese version of PvZ2 in the Frostbite Caves Resurgence Secret Realm as the Elite Weasel Hoarder, although with a slightly edited design.
Veteran Weasel Hoarder
Veteran Weasel Hoarder with log broken
Elite Weasel Hoarder in Chinese PvZ2
Veteran Troglobite
A zombie meant to be used in the scrapped Frostbite Caves expansion, being a veteran version of the Troglobite. This zombie's design was leaked sometime in 2019. Unlike the rest of the scrapped Frostbite Caves expansion zombies, this one was not reused in the Chinese version of PvZ2.
Lost City
Totem Dropper Zombie
A zombie that would have dropped objects to create a totem, with the totem requiring 3 objects. The totem would then summon an Explorer Zombie afterwards.
Other
Zombie Proto
Obviously some sort of test zombie judging by the file name. Only sprites exist for it, which consist of a single dot, and has a idle, walking, eating and death animation.
Zombie Proto's Sprite sheet
Zombie Proto's animations (click to play gif)
Zombie Pet
This unused zombie can be spawned at the player's house when a special dev option is enabled, and will fight other zombies. This was likely a test for hypnotized zombies.
Early Zombie Data
Ancient Egypt
Mummy Zombie
An early version of the Mummy Zombie's design. This image seems to have been used as a placeholder image in the lawn mower hit effect animation, as it's name is "mower_zombie_hit".
Unique Camel Zombie Almanac Entries
Normally the Camel Zombies only have one Almanac entry, however there are unused entries for each segment piece.
[ZOMBIE_CAMEL_MANYHUMP] Camel Zombie [ZOMBIE_CAMEL_MANYHUMP_DESCRIPTION_HEADER] Leader of the many hump camel group. [ZOMBIE_CAMEL_ONEHUMP] Camel Zombie [ZOMBIE_CAMEL_ONEHUMP_DESCRIPTION_HEADER] Leader of the one hump camel group. [ZOMBIE_CAMEL_SEGMENT] Camel Zombie [ZOMBIE_CAMEL_SEGMENT_DESCRIPTION_HEADER] Just another camel in the group. [ZOMBIE_CAMEL_TWOHUMP] Camel Zombie [ZOMBIE_CAMEL_TWOHUMP_DESCRIPTION_HEADER] Leader of the two hump camel group.
Pirate Seas
Pirate Barrel Almanac Entry
The barrel rolled by the Barrel Roller Zombie has an unused almanac icon and entry.
[ZOMBIE_PIRATE_BARREL]
Pirate Barrel
[ZOMBIE_PIRATE_BARREL_DESCRIPTION]
{FLAVOR}What could it be? Could it be gold? Or some sort of other kind of treasure? Who knows!
[ZOMBIE_PIRATE_BARREL_DESCRIPTION_HEADER]
Contains Imp Zombies that launch out when destroyed.
Seagull Zombie
An unused animation related to the Seagull Zombie's ropes falling off exists. This suggests that the zombie may have once fallen to the ground and stood up when its seagull was killed.
Wild West
Treasure Yeti Hat
The Treasure Yeti has a unique hat for Wild West that oddly goes unused.
Pianist Zombie
A very early version of the Pianist Zombie using early assets from the Swashbuckler Zombie likely as a placeholder. This was posted to twitter by Newspaper Zombie, a person who has close ties with Talkweb, the developers of Chinese PvZ2.
Far Future
Future Zombie
An early version of the Future Zombie's description.
[ZOMBIE_FUTURE_DESCRIPTION] Future Zombie is still waiting for his flying car.
Future Conehead Zombie
A placeholder for the Future Conehead Zombie's description.
[ZOMBIE_FUTURE_ARMOR1_DESCRIPTION]
{FLAVOR}TBD
Future Buckethead Zombie
A placeholder for the Future Buckethead Zombie's description.
[ZOMBIE_FUTURE_ARMOR2_DESCRIPTION]
{FLAVOR}TBD
Future Flag Zombie
A placeholder for the Future Flag Zombie's description.
[ZOMBIE_FUTURE_FLAG_DESCRIPTION]
{FLAVOR}TBD
Jetpack Zombie
Originally when coming into contact with a plant, the Jetpack Zombie wouldn't stop to hover over the plant, but would instead continue moving at its normal speed and play an unused "jump" animation.
In version 2.0.1 (the version before Far Future released), the Jetpack Zombie's Almanac icon mistakenly had the glasses used on the Disco Jetpack Zombie. This was fixed when Far Future released, although bizarrely the design saw use on the icon used for Far Future related Events in the Travel Log. This specific design was used for the Disco Jetpack Zombies in version 1.4.2.
Early Jetpack Zombie stats.
| 1.4.2 - 1.9.2 | Final | |
|---|---|---|
| Hitpoints | 270 | 450 (+180) |
| Speed | 0.355 tiles/second | 0.3 tiles/second (-0.055) |
Disco Jetpack Zombie
An early version of the Disco Jetpack Zombie's Almanac icon from 2.0.1, where it is missing glasses and hair. This actually existed simultaneously with the final icon, with this being named "future_jetpack_dancer" and the final icon being named "future_jetpack_disco".
Shield Zombie
The Shield Zombie has an unused unique moving animation for its shield being active, as well as 2 animations entering and exiting this state. These animations were used in the China exclusive game Plants vs. Zombies Online.
Start
Moving
End
Shielded Render
Early Shield Zombie stats.
| App ID 2 | 1.4.2 - 2.0.1 | Final | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hitpoints | 270 | 540 (+270) | 500 (-40) |
| Shield Activation Column | Column 7 | Column 8 | Column 8 |
| Shield Hitpoints | 1200 | 800 (-400) | 1200 (+400) |
| Max Shields | 2 | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Shield Regen Time | 1 second | 5 seconds (+4) | 5 seconds |
Bug Bot Imp
An early version of the Bug Bot Imp's design, originally called Spider Bot Imp.
Spider Bot Imp
Spider Bot Imp sprites
Landing
Idle
Walk
Eat
Death
Early text for Bug Bot Imp
[ZOMBIE_FUTURE_IMP]
Spider Bot Imp
[ZOMBIE_FUTURE_IMP_DESCRIPTION]
{FLAVOR}He always wanted to "see the world", "be his own boss", and "meet and consume interesting brains". He still doesn't understand how he got stuck in this cramped Spider Bot job 24/7.
[ZOMBIE_FUTURE_IMP_DESCRIPTION_HEADER]
Lands on the lawn past your defenses, then crawls forward.
[WARNING_SPIDERRAIN]
Arachnophobia!
Prior to 1.3.2, this was its description
[ZOMBIE_FUTURE_IMP_DESCRIPTION]
{FLAVOR}TBD
Mecha-Football Zombie
An early sketch of Mecha-Football Zombie found in the UNSORTEDIMAGES sprite sheet in OBB id 2.
An early version of Mecha-Football Zombie's description.
[ZOMBIE_FOOTBALL_MECH_DESCRIPTION]
{KEYWORD}Special: {STAT}pushes plants to the left instead of eating
{FLAVOR}The piloting zombie never liked sports before stepping into his football themed walker. Now he can't stand sports.
Early Mecha-Football Zombie stats.
| 1.4.2 - 2.0.1 | Final | |
|---|---|---|
| Hitpoints | 2200 | 2000 (-200) |
| Speed | 0.19 tiles/second | 0.2 tiles/second (+0.01) |
Disco-tron 3000
An early version of the Disco-tron 3000's song.
A slightly early version of the Disco-tron 3000's description header. "Bass" was changed to "beat" in the final.
[ZOMBIE_DISCO_MECH_DESCRIPTION_HEADER] Drops in disco zombies when dropping the bass.
Gargantuar Prime
An early version of the Gargantuar Prime description where it refers to Bug Bot Imp as Spider Bot Imp.
[ZOMBIE_FUTURE_GARGANTUAR_DESCRIPTION]
{KEYWORD}Damage: {STAT}crushes plants with arms
{KEYWORD}Damage: {STAT}randomly burns tiles with laser eyes
{KEYWORD}Special: {STAT}launches Spider Bot when damaged
{FLAVOR}The imp pilots of the Gargantuar Prime series are handpicked by Dr. Zomboss himself. They are the imp elite. The small, the mean, and the fearless! But mostly the ones who can drive a stick shift.
[ZOMBIE_FUTURE_GARGANTUAR_DESCRIPTION_HEADER]
Has it all: heavy armor, laser eyes, smashing arms, and Spider Bot deployment system.
Zombot Tomorrow-tron
The Zombot Tomorrow-tron has 5 animations of its eye becoming each of the 5 different Power Tile symbols before going into attack mode. Interestingly, all colors exist, even though only red and green are actually given in the fight. The green and red eye animations were previously used in versions prior to 2.4, where the Zombot's missile attack targeted all of a certain type of Power Tile. After update 2.4, the Zombot's missile attack was changed to target any tile, rendering the two animations unused.
Green
Red
Yellow (oddly appears orange)
Cyan
Purple / Tile Turnip
Dark Ages
Peasant Zombie
A placeholder design for the Peasant Zombie and its Conehead, Buckethead and Flag variants, using the design of the Future Zombie with its suit recolored blue and the flag of the Flag Pirate Zombie. Found in Android app ID 4.
Peasant Zombie
Conehead Peasant
Buckethead Peasant
Peasant Flag Zombie
Sprites
The Dark Ages teaser Piñata Parties used slightly earlier designs of the final Peasant Zombies, featuring slightly darker clothes, and for the Buckethead, no stain or dents on its bucket.
| Teaser | Final |
|---|---|
  
|
  
|
Early designs for the Knight and Flag Peasants also existed, who never appeared in the teaser Piñata Parties, making these designs completely unused. The Knight Zombie had a smaller helmet and no shoulder pad, and the Flag Peasant had a differently colored flag. The early Flag Peasant design was actually mistakenly used as the Flag Peasant's Almanac icon when Dark Ages first released, being quickly corrected in the next update.
| Early | Final |
|---|---|
 
|
 
|
Turret-Head Zombie
A placeholder Almanac icon for the Turret-Head Zombie, being the icon of the Knight Zombie with a red square in the bottom left corner.
Big Wave Beach
Bikini Zombie
The Bikini Zombies in the Big Wave Beach teaser Piñata Parties used a slightly earlier version of their design with hair coming out from behind their head. It's unknown why this was removed.
| Early | Final |
|---|---|
|
|
Fisherman Zombie
A very early version of the Fisherman Zombie's hook exists in the files.
Hook
String
Frostbite Caves
Zombie Weasel
The Zombie Weasels have 2 unused animations of them stopping to eat and exiting their eating animation. Normally they go right to their eating animation without any transition.
Start
Stop
Lost City
Excavator Zombie
The Excavator Zombie has an unused animation of its shovel being stolen, presumably by Magnet-shroom. This ties in with an earlier design of the zombie where its shovel was originally metal, which could be seen in concept art. There are also animations of it idling, walking, eating, and dying without its shovel, which used to be unused until the release of Bramble Bush which oddly has the ability to remove the zombie's shovel.
Relic Hunter Zombie
The Relic Hunter Zombie has an unused animation of it failing to land, which is likely a leftover from the Swashbuckler Zombie, who this zombie reuses animations from.
Jurassic Marsh
Raptor
The Raptor has an unused animation of it kicking left while charmed by Perfume-shroom. Normally it only kicks right in this state, as it kicks the zombies off the lawn.
Other
15th Anniversary #caketank
The #caketank zombie has an unused 15th anniversary design that went unused due to a developer oversight.
Ducky Tube Zombie
The Ducky Tube Zombie's animations have the brick from the Brickhead Zombie on them, likely a leftover from the Basic Zombie.
Zombie Bobsled Team
The Zombie Bobsled Team have an unused ashed animation where they become black and then instantly disappear. This is likely meant to be a reference to their ashed design in the original Plants vs. Zombies, where the same thing happens.
Zomboni
Like the Zombie Bobsled Team, the Zomboni also has an unused ashed animation where it becomes black and instantly disappears. This one, however, is odd as this never happens in the original game.
Lunar Zoo Year Almanac Icons
Each Lunar Zoo Year zombie variant has an unused Almanac icon, going unused as these zombies don't have Almanac entries or appear in Vasebreaker.
Basic Zombie
Conehead Zombie
Buckethead Zombie
Flag Zombie
Camel Zombies
Super-Fan Imp
