History YMMV / DeadAheadZombieWarfare

* Often in more light-hearted fan work, if the cast is acting eccentric and silly, then expect Cap to be the OnlySaneMan who questions the antics and happen around him.
* Due to a single pixel that is placed between Robber’s mouth and facial hair, he’s often mistaken for constantly smiling in battle, in a game where none of the human characters smile ever. It turns out that this pixel is just part of his beard. However, that revelation hasn’t stopped people from still portraying the Robber as a SmugSmiler with a cocky attitude.

** Also sort of, due to official art also featuring this. Whenever promotional art for the game would show the units having eyes, DependingOnTheArtist, it's more often than not portrayed them as having black irises with blue sclera, of all things. The fans totally ran with this stylization idea, as it's common to see the units or other humans portrayed with blue eyes.

** Also due to the reconned backstories, the other detail people often remember is that Redneck’s name is Russel.

* ThatOneSidequest: Before update 3.7.4, Bill's simple, mundane quests were not mandatory, but their coin/XP rewards were often worth going for, and so players dedicate their time to them anyway. Thanks to this, many people grew to hate star acquisition quests, as they are very tedious, require you to spend much more fuel than on other tasks, and could only be done at Missions you have not yet completed. With the rework to the daily task system in 3.7.4, it's safe to say that this quest has not been missed at all.

* ThatOneSidequest: Although Bill's mundane quests aren't mandatory, their coin/XP rewards are often worth going for, and so players dedicate their time to them anyway. Thanks to this, many people grew to hate star acquisition quests, as they are very tedious and require you to spend much more fuel than on other tasks.

** Rogue, when his special ability gave him the possibility of gaining 100% bullet resistance, made him one of the most broken unit in the game. This, combined with his immunity to explosions (Courtesy of being a TMF unit) and all-around high stats, meant players quickly abused him to get ''thousands'' of levels in the otherwise difficult Corn Farm event with little effort. Of course, [[{{Obvious Rule Patch}} this got nerfed just a day after Corn Farm came into the event rotation.]]

* ThatOneSidequest: Although Bill's mundane quests aren't mandatory, their coin/XP rewards are often worth going for, and so players dedicate their time to them anyway. Thanks to this, many people grew to hate 10+ mission completion quests, as they are very tedious and require you to spend much more fuel than on other tasks.

* GameBreaker: Rogue, when his special ability gave him the possibility of gaining 100% bullet resistance, made him one of the most broken unit in the game. This, combined with his immunity to explosions (Courtesy of being a TMF unit) and all-around high stats, meant players quickly abused him to get ''thousands'' of levels in the otherwise difficult Corn Farm event with little effort. Of course, [[{{Obvious Rule Patch}} this got nerfed just a day after Corn Farm came into the event rotation.]]

** The game's fan wiki provides these for units and team powers in [=PvE=] setting. Best options for main game are usually extremely versatile, or have a unique attribute that allows them to outshine all other similar units. Modern [=PvP=] is considered to be too polarising and chaotic to provide any meaningful rating for non-meta units. It doesn't helps that team powers play a major role in the mode too.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeArt: The unique art style of Dead Ahead is often considered the main reason behind its success. The way it tastefully combines cute, stylized anatomy with edgy militarism and body horror has attracted attention of all sorts of people to the game. It even inspired plenty of fans to become pixel artists themselves, thanks to the art style of their favorite game being relatively easy to copy.

* {{They Wasted A Perfectly Good Plot}}: The potential for some kind of an interesting story was present in the beginning, and a lot of players were interested in where it was going. However, all the unit's backstories were deleted and likely reconned, likely because all of them were {{Whole Plot Reference}}s with nothing original. Even though it means the cast can't be just a bunch of unoriginal ideas, which is a good thing, it still kills any chance of the units being actual characters. It gets worse in the game, as the intro to Location 4 (halfway through the game) is the last proper cutscene in the game, with the only other cutscene left being Bill literally saying "so easy" at the FinalBoss. And then the Marauders; likely the only enemies that aren't mindless monsters, disappear after their final mission together in Location 5, Mission 91, ending their developing plotline, and any potential for an interesting antagonistic group.

* {{They Wasted A Perfectly Good Character}}: Not just one, but a whole group. Some people think this way towards the Marauders. Simply being other human enemies trying to stop Bill and his group, some people appreciated the fact that they brought in some unique gameplay compared to simply fighting hordes of zombies due to their smarter AI, need to fight other turned zombies, and ranged weaponry. And the more down-to-earth traditional situation of [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters fighting other survivors.]] Sadly, the Marauders are featured as enemies in a grand total of ''5 missions, 2 supply runs, and 1 event.'' Most fans agree that they should’ve been expanded upon, maybe even over the super mutated alien blue energy stuff that takes up the late game.

* {{They Wasted A Perfectly Good Character}}: Not just one, but a whole group. Some people think this way towards the Marauders. Simply being other human enemies trying to stop Bill and his group, some people appreciated the fact that they brought in some unique gameplay compared to simply fighting hordes of zombies, and the more down-to-earth traditional situation of [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters fighting other survivors.]] Most fans agree that they should’ve been expanded upon, maybe even over the super mutated alien blue energy stuff that takes up the late game.

* {{They Wasted A Perfectly Good Plot}}: The potential for some kind of an interesting story was present in the beginning, and a lot of players were interested in where it was going. However, all the unit's backstories were deleted and likely reconned, likely because all of them were {{Whole Plot Reference}}s with nothing original. Even though it means the cast can't be just a bunch of unoriginal ideas, which is a good thing, it still kills any chance of the units being actual characters. It gets worse in the game, as the intro to Location 4 (halfway through the game) is the last proper cutscene in the game, with the only cutscene left after being Bill literally saying "so easy" at the FinalBoss. And then the Marauders; likely the only enemies that aren't mindless monsters disappear after their final mission together in Location 5, Mission 91, ending their developing plotline, and any potential for an interesting antagonistic group.

* {{They Wasted A Perfectly Good Plot}}: The potential for some kind of an interesting story was present in the beginning, and a lot of players were interested in where it was going. However, all the unit's backstories were deleted and likely reconned, likely because all of them were {{WholePlotReference}}s with nothing original. Even though it means the cast can't be just a bunch of unoriginal ideas, which is a good thing, it still kills any chance of the units being actual characters. It gets worse in the game, as the intro to Location 4 (halfway through the game) is the last proper cutscene in the game, with the only cutscene left after being Bill literally saying "so easy" at the FinalBoss. And then the Marauders; likely the only enemies that aren't mindless monsters disappear after their final mission together in Location 5, Mission 91, ending their developing plotline, and any potential for an interesting antagonistic group.

** Once Policeman Diaz is unlocked, there's a very good chance he will be staying in any player's team for the entire rest of the main game. Often considered the best unit in the entire campaign, Diaz is the only unit to be blessed with any kind of melee resistance in a game where every single zombie can only attack via melee. That combined with his high health allows him to tank dangerous threats like Witches and Charged Zombies, and is even the only ranged unit who can consistently and reliably fight off Insectoids who pounce on him at full health. And his shotgun has high damage whose spread can take care of several enemies at once.

* {{Moe}}: The game's fandom reinterpreted Pepper as this. Same happened to Free Hugs, but this one might've been an inteded reaction, considering that she is one of the series' mascots.

* BestKnownForTheFanservice: For what it's worth, Charlotte is a solid sniper unit who can help her teammates by dealing massive amounts of damage from a distance. However, the ''real'' reason most people use her is to see [[{{Gainaxing}} her huge breasts shake while she is firing]].

* Moe: The game's fandom reinterpreted Pepper as this. Same happened to Free Hugs, but this one might've been an inteded reaction, considering that she is one of the series' mascots.

* AwesomeArt: The unique art style of Dead Ahead is often considered the main reason behind its success. The way it tastefully combines cute, stylized anatomy with edgy militarism and body horror has attracted attention of all sorts of people to the game. It even inspired plenty of fans to become pixel artists themselves, thanks to the art style of their favorite game being relatively easy to copy.

*** Charged Zombies start out slow, but upon picking a target, they charge up, and zip forward at lightning speeds, colliding with the first humans they encounter and usually killing them with high damage. Charged zombies are almost unstoppable without a rage item like a barrel to block their path or kill them directly. Even though shotgun users and HRoF Shooters can usually pick them off with pellet spread or a stray bullet, the horde in front of them might be enough to protect them while charging up. And when they start charging from off screen, you'll never be able to deal with them reactively.

* ComplacentGamingSyndrome: Long-time players tend to add Red Barrel to any deck they use, even if a mission they about to play has fire-resistant enemies.