Greatest Hits

**Greatest Hits** is the eighth Endless Zone in *Plants vs. Zombies 2*, and Neon Mixtape Tour's Endless Zone. It is unlocked after beating Neon Mixtape Tour - Day 20. Like all Endless Zones, the entire zone itself gets more challenging as you progress, and one may not know when a level will have three or four flags.

In addition, Greatest Hits has a special feature unique to it. There will be at least two jams per level in this Endless Zone. Each jam changes after two or three waves of the zombies, and the first jam will start maximally after three first waves of zombies. However, jams can repeat themselves (i.e. metal runs for two waves, then changes to metal again which runs for another two waves). The instant a jam repeats itself it will spawn the zombie that reacts to it, usually in groups. Depending on the specific jam, the amount of spawned special zombies that react to it when it plays will increase greatly. This also means that any special zombie, including Hair Metal Gargantuars, can be the first zombie spawned, provided that there is a jam played when the level starts. Jam-dependent zombies can still spawn when their jams are not playing, but when their jam does play it guarantees that they will spawn.

## Dialogue

*(Crazy Dave appears)*

Crazy Dave: Howdy, neighbor! Welcome to the GREATEST HITS!

Crazy Dave: I hope you're ready for a righteously up-tempo experience!

*(Crazy Dave leaves)*

## Strategies

This Endless Zone starts with a basic jam that lasts up to two waves before a random jam comes up. The subsequent jams last up to three waves before it changes again. Use powerful plants such as Winter Melon, Coconut Cannon and Strawburst to kill zombies quickly before their jam pops up. Even if their jam pops up before you kill them, these powerful plants can help mitigate the damage done. Primal Peashooter is a good plant to use in this Endless Zone as they can keep special ability zombies such as MC Zom-B at a distance and prevent them from quickly overwhelming your defenses and destroying high cost plants such as Melon-pult, especially when supported by other plants. Due to the generally low health of zombies have here, Laser Bean is also a good pickup. Infi-nut should be an extremely high priority pickup, since even after the Hair Metal Gargantuars destroy the hologram, their base will still remain, allowing Infi-nut to tank an infinite amount of ranged attacks. Just don't let the Gargantuars get too close to the Infi-nuts, as a melee attack will still destroy them. Magnet-shroom is also a good pickup, especially in negating Punk Zombies presence as the level progresses. Spore-shroom are also helpful at the start of levels as they can quickly build up your defenses from defeated zombies which can also hold back zombies such as Punk Zombie and MC Zom-B. Intensive Carrot is important as they can help recover your plants without having to spend the original sun cost of those plants. Shrinking Violet is a good choice, including higher levels of this Endless Zone, as they can shrink the zombies and reduce the effectiveness of their special abilities. Bowling Bulbs can be quite helpful against Arcade Zombies, including the 8-Bit Zombies that are spawned from the arcade machine as they can hit groups of them and prevent them from overwhelming your defenses.

Hair Metal Gargantuars, Breakdancer Zombies, MC Zom-Bs, Glitter Zombies, Arcade Zombies, and Punk Zombies will be dangerous in this Endless Zone without the right strategies. Some of these zombies can quickly be very problematic and wreak havoc, especially if the music suddenly shifts into metal, allowing Hair Metal Gargantuars to trim all but the toughest plants in one slam of their guitars.

This can be one of the most dangerous of all the Endless Zones solely because of the fact that Hair Metal Gargantuars, along with their ranged attacks can and will be difficult to defeat, and will stack with more Gargantuars to the point where it becomes almost impossible to defend. In addition, Hair Metal Gargantuars can spawn earlier than other Endless Zones, usually appearing in groups of 2-4, sometimes after the first couple of zombies have been defeated, which can be very difficult to defend against. Arcade Zombies are also very dangerous as they can shield any zombie on the lawn from straight-shooting projectile plants, which leaves these plants often having a hard time dealing with them. Moreover, in higher levels of this Endless Zone, Arcade Zombies can get very nasty as they tend to appear in large numbers and push the arcade machines closer together which will allow them to spawn a high density of 8-Bit Zombies, which can be highly devastating to your defenses. The large quantities of 8-Bit Zombies will be very difficult to defend and may easily end your game, even in levels without Hair Metal Gargantuars. Breakdancer Zombies and MC Zom-Bs are very deadly, especially when working together. If they stack up in large numbers, especially in higher levels, they can empty everything on your lawn and cause you to lose the game, thus forcing you to spend coins on Plant Food or Power Ups to get rid of them. Glitter Zombie's jam is quite useful, especially if it plays very early in a level, as it slows all zombies down by 50%, making them easier to deal with and not a huge threat. Glitter Zombies should not be much of a problem, unless she appears in undefended lanes, as her speed is slower than most special-ability zombies so she rarely gets far enough to cause problems with her insta-kill ability. Also, there are plenty of plants that can render her rainbow trail ability useless. However, you should always watch out when she is assisting a Boombox Zombie as he will have a higher chance of reaching the 6th column and disable your plants' abilities.

### Strategy by Pryp'yatMineralGamer

 (Contains gem premium content)

* **Required plants**:  \*  \*
* Note: An \* means this plant is essential for the setup.

The strategy is simple. If Hair Metal Gargantuars appear, go to the Zen Garden and back until there are none of them. Aim on getting four Plant Food (or five if you have the money-bought Plant Food Bonus upgrade) by the final flag to feed the Sun-shrooms at the beginning of the next level. Plant your Winter Melon when you get enough sun. Through the level, get more sun to plant more Winter Melons. For early zombies, plant a Bonk Choy.

### Strategy by 2

 (Contains premium content)

* **Required plants:**       (for Hurrikale)
* **Position of the plants:**

* + Plant Sun-shrooms and feed enough Plant Food on them to boost your sun.
	+ Plant two Winter Melons like the position above, then two Sweet Potatoes.
	+ If the early zombies are Hair Metal Gargantuars, immediately plant Infi-nut to stop his shockwave attack. Although Infi-nut is temporarily dead, it can still take all damage from the shockwaves, even if there are more than 10 shockwaves, protecting your plants behind.
	+ Keep planting Banana Launchers and Infi-nuts.
	+ Keep using Hurrikales to stop the instant-kill zombies, especially Hair Metal Gargantuars.

**Explanations**

* The main weakness of all special zombies in Neon Mixtape Tour is that they have very low health. Therefore, Winter Melons can take out all zombies easily. With the help of Banana Launcher and slow effect, there is absolutely no problem that destroys your defense.
* Infi-nut is the greatest choice to stop Hair Metal Gargantuars, as when it is temporarily dead, it is immune to shockwave. Therefore, in dead form, it can take all shockwave attacks without being defeated completely.
* Sweet Potato and Hurrikale combo are effective to stop Impunks and Hair Metal Gargantuars, especially in higher levels. However, try to act quickly and on time, or they will easily destroy your defense.

### Strategy by SunShroom

 (Contains premium content)

* **Required plants:** +        (absorbs Gargantuar's sonic blast)

* **Position of the plants:**

**Note:** \* means that there is a Power Tile on that tile created by Tile Turnip.

**Explanations:**

Start by planting a Sun-shrooms and a Tile Turnip. Stall the first zombie for as long as possible then kill it with Ghost Pepper. Plant the second Tile Turnip, use Plant Food, then plant the third one. After you have three Tile Turnips, start planting Winter Melons, but focus more on the Infi-nuts just in case of an early metal jam. Once you have a column of Winter Melons, plant the fourth Tile Turnip. Stall Hair Metal Gargantuars and other zombies with Ghost Pepper and Hurrikale. Use Plant Food on the Infi-nut in the third column to deal with Imps. Once you have three rows of Winter Melons, you have basically won, and just use Ghost Pepper and Hurrikale to deal with any Hair Metal Gargantuar that gets too close.

### Strategy by IDontCareAboutHistory  (Contains premium content)

Plants:

* Plant two columns of Primal Sunflowers on first and third columns (place an Infi-nut in the middle of column 3)
* Start placing Infi-nuts on fifth column to protect your plants from Gargantuars.
* Place Winter Melons on second column, and Melon-pults on fourth column.
* Use Plant Food on the Infi-nut on third column.
* If things get bad, use Thyme Warp or Grapeshot.

### Let the time go  (Contains premium content)

By Iamarepeater

I have created two strategies for this endless zone. Each of them have their advantages and disadvantages.

#### Version 1

Plants: , , , , , ,

List of why I brought these plants:

* Gold Bloom: Extra sun at the start
* Imitater: Needed to have an extra Thyme Warp in hand
* Shrinking violet: Stops Arcade Zombies from pushing their arcade machines
* Blover: Rap Jam + Breakerdancer Zombie + Thyme Warp + Well-timed blover = Termination of the entire wave (or you can lose your lawnmowers/streak). Also, it kill any airborne imps from gargs you forgot to shrink.
* Primal Potato Mine and Cherry Bomb: Quick way to blast out those zombies, especially shrunken Hair Metal gargantuars.
* Thyme Warp: Crucial to resetting the lawn

Use Primal Potato Mines to blast out the early zombies. Once the jam start, wait till all the zombies have started to turn red then Thyme Warp all of them back to the start. Prepare those explosive plants to kill them, but if there are any gargs, shrink them first. If possible, if you see more gargs after you re-winded time, prepare a Blover. Once the gargs get damaged, time it so the imps are killed.

Advantage: There is basically nothing for the hair metal gargs to attack. They just waste time slamming their guitars on the floor.

Disadvantage: Punk jam. All the zombies will be rushing in so quickly, you won't have time to keep watch as there is nothing to stop the horde (Both Thyme Warp will be recharging when they reach the end of the lawn).

#### Version 2  (Contains premium content)

Plants: , , , , , ,

List of why I brought these plants:

* Infi-nut: Didn't bring this plant? Good luck during the metal jam.
* Imitater, Blover, Gold Bloom, and Thyme Warp: See above
* Primal Sunflower: those winter melons aren't cheap
* Winter Melon: Key to winning the level.

You put the first column of Infi-Nut on the third column. Winter melon on the first column and primal sunflower on the second column. Then try to set up two columns of primal sunflowers on the fourth and fifth columns with Infi-nut on the sixth column. If the gargs get too close to your plants, thyme warp them. Once you get enough sun, replace those primal sunflowers with winter melons.

Advantage: No need to worry much about zombies easily breaking through.

Disadvantage: Metal Jam as the first starting jam? Welp. You won't have an easy time setting up.

### Strategy by Anonymous230385  (Contains premium content) and  (Contains gem premium content)

Plants:

This is actually a very risky strategy, but if you set up early enough on "normal" time (not fast forwarded), there is a chance this defense might become impregnable.

Place Moonflowers in column 2. For the first zombie (usually it's a normal one), place a Primal Wall-nut in column 4 to delay it. After eating the wall-nut for some time, the other zombies start arriving. Delay them for as long as possible and, if possible, place multiple columns of Primal Wall-nuts to counter Hair Metal Gargantuars. Obviously replace the critically damaged Primal Wall-nuts with clean ones if you have Wall-nut First Aid.

Once you have a decent enough defense, start placing Shadow Peashooters in columns 1 and 3. These plants are extremely useful in that they can shoot through all zombies (minus Glitter Zombie's rainbow trail if present) and concurrently slow the zombies. In other news, it's like a Laser Bean with a Stallia effect when zombies are hit by the beam.

Use Hurrikale to send zombies back to column 9 if necessary, and use Gold Bloom to replenish sun if necessary. Lava Guava can stall HMGs for a very brief amount of time as well as deal damage. Shrinking Violet... well. It basically simplifies the zombies ever so slightly.

At the time of this strategy being written, my (User:Anonymous230385) Shadow Peashooter was level 5, but the stalling happens at level 1 even, so don't worry about leveling here (unless you want tougher plants or something).

## Trivia

* When jams play, record scratches can sometimes be heard in the background, creating the impression that the jam is starting over, even though it does not do so. This is because of Greatest Hits's random jam order.
* The Travel Log calls it "80's Danger Room," which is its internal name (eighties\_dangerroom).
	+ This is also similar to Modern Day's endless zone, Highway to the Danger Room.
* Before the 4.2 update, Thyme Warp could not be obtained in Greatest Hits.
* The Hair Metal Gargantuar is encountered more often here than other Gargantuar variants are in the other Endless Zones. This is because of the jam mechanic.

\*: Removed ~: Epic Quest