Gene Modification
Gene Modification is a feature in the Chinese version of Plants vs. Zombies 2. It allows the player to use unneeded Puzzle Pieces to create other new ones. It was released with the v1.9.1 update in Android, and v2.0.0 in iOS.
Creation
The player can put 2 to 5 puzzle pieces into the interface shown below and spend 5000 coins or 20 gems to create a new plant puzzle piece. The chosen plant of the new puzzle piece is random, but the chance of it being of any given quality is shown above the "Create" button. Using gems to fuse pieces increases the chance of the piece being of a higher quality.
A second tab in Gene Modification's menu also allows the creation of Costume Puzzle Pieces. Unlike plants, all puzzle pieces for all costumes are treated equally, and the player always needs exactly 3 puzzle pieces to create a new one. Using gems to create costume puzzle pieces gives a random chance to generate one or two additional costume puzzle pieces for different plants, as the cost is relatively low.
Results of Creation
- 2 puzzle pieces (same quality) will create a puzzle piece with a plant with the same quality. For example, 2 Purple puzzle pieces (EX: Electric Blueberry, Pyro-shroom or Byttneria Meteor Hammer) Puzzle Pieces may create a Coconut Cannon Puzzle Piece, but will not create an Orange (EX: Snapdragon, Cryo-shroom or Acid Lemon) Puzzle Piece or a Blue (EX: Laser Bean, Cherry Bomb or Pretty Plum) Puzzle Piece.
- 3 puzzle pieces (same quality) will have a 50% chance to create a puzzle piece with a plant of higher quality (And the other 50% will create a puzzle piece with another plant of the same quality).
- 4 puzzle pieces (same quality) will have a higher chance of creating a puzzle piece with a plant of higher quality (67%).
- 5 puzzle pieces (same quality) will always create a puzzle piece with a plant of higher quality.
- Puzzle Pieces of different qualities will have their results rearranged.
Strategies
Note that although this might be the only way to get Orange-quality puzzle pieces (and to make use of the unusable puzzle pieces of plants that have no upgrades once unlocked such as Gold Leaf, Blover, Power Lily and Tile Turnip), this function is very coin/gem consuming. So, try to farm gems and coins by modes or events, such as Two-Player Mode or Memory Lane. Using gems to generate higher quality regular puzzle pieces is generally not recommended, though it's not a bad choice to use gems to create additional costume puzzle pieces.
Gallery
Main UI, note that this screenshot was taken in an older version
Piece selection
UI Sprites
Trivia
- Every plant released after Kiwibeast cannot be obtained from this feature. Although, the player can still use their puzzle pieces to create new plant puzzle pieces.