Plants vs Zombies 2 - Penny's Pursuit - Core Plant Showcase -Banana Launcher - April 2023

This Penny's quest focuses on the CORE plant Banana Launcher and was offered between between April 19, 2023 and April 26, 2023.

Banana Launcher is a member of the Arma-Mint family.
Banana Launcher costs 500 Sun. (-25 Sun at levels 2, 4, 6, 8, 9 and 10.)
Mnually tap Banana Launcher to aim and launch a banana anywhere on the lawn.
This banana will do 1,200 damage in a 1x3 area. (+100 per level except for levels 2 and 3 where it is +50.)
It takes 20 seconds for Banana Launcher to reload. (-1 second per level except level 9.)
When given plant food, Banana Launcher will launch four (4) bananas at random targets on the lawn.

Commentary:
A reusable missile which does 2/3rds the damage of a Cherry Bomb? A plant food effect which can do almost 5,000 points of cumulative damage?

Bottom Line:
We normally prefer plant-and-forget plants. We plant something and let the plant do its thing. With Banana Launcher, the player needs to manually select targets. This is understandable as one does not wish to waste a banana on a soon-to-be-extinguished zombie.

But Banana Launcher is expensive. Very expensive. Costing 500 Sun, I wonder when a player is going to be able to plant Banana Launcher and actually use it enough to justify selecting it. One can plant three (3) Cherry Bombs for less Sun and do more damage in a larger area with less manual effort.

Level 1 - Difficulty 🌶️🌶️🌶️ - Bonus 2 of 2
Survive the zombie attack - Last Stand Style
Chosen Perk is Boost Tile
Electrify zombies not offered / 25 / times
There are precious flowers on the lawn which can not be trampled - 4 & 5 /
Starting Sun = 2,200 / 2,000 / 1,750

Level 2 - Difficulty 🌶️🌶️🌶️ - Bonus 1 of 2
Survive for 3 minutes
Chosen Perk is Boss Buster
Defeat 10 / 12 / 14 ZCorp Helpdesks
Defeat Cardio not offered / 1 / 2 time(s)
Starting Sun = 175 / 125 / 75
Appease-Mint strategies could defeat Cardio on difficulty 3.

Level 3 - Difficulty 🌶️🌶️🌶️ - Bonus 1 of 2
Survive the zombie attack - Last Stand Style
Chosen Perk is Boost Tile
Survive and protect the endangered plants - Strawburst on R1C1, R5C1 / R2C2, R4C3 / R3C3, R3C4
Do not spend more than not offered / 4,000 / 3,000 Sun
Starting Sun = 175 / 125 / 75

Level 4 - Difficulty 🌶️🌶️🌶️ - Bonus 0 of 2
Survive for 2 / 2.5 / 3 minutes.
Chosen Perk is SHIELDS
Survive and protect the endangered plants - Snapdragon on R3C3 / Repeaters on R1C4, R5C4 / R234C4
Defeat not offered / 12 / 15 Fisherman.

Harry Potter reading a spell book with Merlin the Wizard/Gandalf.

Level 5 - Difficulty 🌶️🌶️🌶️ - Bonus 0 of 1
Survive the zombie attack.
Chosen Perk is SHIELDS
Survive and protect the endangered plants - 6 plants on columns 1 & 2

+Timestamps
00:00 Level 1 - Difficulty 3
01:25 Level 2 - Difficulty 3
04:41 Level 3 - Difficulty 3
08:21 Level 4 - Difficulty 3
11:45 Level 5 - Difficulty 3