History Main / EMP

** ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty'' has EMP grenades as an option for the tactical equipment slot in ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare 3'', ''[[VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOpsII Black Ops II]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOpsIII III]]'', and ''[[VideoGame/CallOfDutyAdvancedWarfare Advanced Warfare]]''. Is useful against automated KillStreak rewards like sentry guns, drone swarms, mooks with AST exoskeletons and the like; against players it does little more than disabling their HUD and any optical attachments on their guns for a couple seconds.

** ''VideoGame/ProjectSnowblind'' [[SpiritualSuccessor naturally]] includes them and forms the main plot line. [[spoiler:Yan Lo's plan involves detonating EMP bombs in New York, Paris, and Tokyo to essentially send the entire world back into TheDungAges, due to his [[TheSocialDarwinist social-Darwinist beliefs]] that anybody who couldn't survive back then doesn't deserve to live at all.]]

** ''VideoGame/UnrealIITheAwakening'': Has the EMP grenades for the ''Hydra'' Grenade Launcher. In addition to those, the SecondaryFire of the Shock Lance creates an energy ball with EMP properties. Both are particularly useful against forcefield generators and automatic cannons.

* In ''VideoGame/BattlefieldBadCompany 2'' the plot revolves around the members of the Bad Company trying to find a mysterious, lost Japanese superweapon from UsefulNotes/WorldWarII which turns out to be an EMP.

* In ''VideoGame/Battlefield4'', a massive EMP blast jams an entire city's electronics, lights, etc. as well as the protagonists' communication devices.

** In ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerGenerals'', the Superweapon General's base-defense missiles and one of the special powers of high-ranking Chinese generals are EMP-based. These disable vehicles and buildings (albeit, temporarily). When said EMP base-defense missiles [[OneHitKill hit aircraft]], however...
** ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerTiberianSun'':
*** Features an EMP cannon on both factions, while its expansion had a mobile EMP tank for GDI. Its more useful against GDI than Nod due to Nod's tendency to use {{fragile speedster}}s and that the cannon takes some time to charge and shoot.
*** In Generals, China has an EMP bomb dropped by an airplane. Pretty effective if used with other special abilities to destroy an enemy force or as a starter for an attack on the enemy base. And it looked [[RuleOfCool cool]].
*** ''Tiberium Wars'' has a tech building that can be captured to grant an EMP attack that temporarily disables enemy buildings.

** ''Film/GoldenEye'': The eponymous {{Kill Sat}}s, developed by the Soviets and stolen by Janus, work by exploding in orbit, generating a powerful EMP to knock out the electronics of the target below them. Janus destroys the Severnaya station in Russia with it and intents to use the other one on London.

* In ''WesternAnimation/RoswellConspiracies'', when the Yeti escaped slavery at the hands of the Lycanthrops, they managed to steal an EMP bomb that they then modified, making it powerful enough to wipe out all life on a planet.

* The nuclear bomb in the MadeForTVMovie ''Medusa's Child''.

* In ''Simon Black at Sea'', an American air force officer complains about the primitive electronics in the Firefly 4, a SpacePlane designed to employ nuclear weapons. Simon and Alan Grant argue that the Firefly 4 is designed for Armageddon, when the upper atmosphere will be such a mess it will screw up any radar or radio. EMP isn't mentioned specifically because the novel was published in 1961.

** The MacGuffin (though only for the first half of the movie) in ''Film/AViewToAKill'' is a computer chip that can withstand EMP, built by Zorin Industries -- Bond is investigating how one of these chips ended up in the Soviet Union.
** ''Film/GoldenEye'': The eponymous {{Kill Sat}}s, developed by the Soviets and stolen by Janus, work by exploding in orbit, generating a powerful EMP to knock out the electronics of the target below them.

* ''Film/JamesBond'': Multiple:
** ''Film/GoldenEye'': The eponymous {{KillSat}}s, devloped by the Russians and stolen by Janus, these two satelites work by exploding in orbit, generating a powerful EMP to knock out the electronics of the target below them.
** And the MacGuffin (though only for the first half of the movie) in ''Film/AViewToAKill'' is a computer chip that can withstand EMP, built by Zorin Industries -- Bond is investigating how one of these chips ended up in the Soviet Union.

%%* ''Series/{{Jericho}}''

* ''Literature/TheWarAgainstTheChtorr''. A robot is sent into an alien dome to flash it with EMP, hopefully killing any man-eating alien worms before TheSquad follows. A footnote helpfully informs us that an EMP-grenade will cook or curdle any living matter within a radius of ([[AC:'''CLASSIFIED''']]). A single charge will yield as many as ([[AC:'''CLASSIFIED''']]) useable pulses. There is also the tendency of the flash to destroy any unshielded electronic gear within the larger radius of ([[AC:'''CLASSIFIED''']]). One could argue this is a good writer's technique to explain what EMP is while {{Black Box}}ing the actual technology involved.

** ''Film/GoldenEye'': The eponymous KillSat.

* In ''Film/MissionToMars'', the first manned mission accidentally triggers a Martian defense system at Cydonia, which not only kills most of them but also emits an EMP wave that fries the lander's systems, stranding the survivor on Mars. The rescue mission brings replacement motherboards with them ([[spoiler:they end up being their only way off the planet, after their original craft is destroyed]]).

* In ''Film/{{Godzilla|2014}}'' (2014), the [=MUTOs=] have the ability to emit natural electromagnetic pulses. Indeed, the lights suddenly going out in the area serves as an indirect sign that they are nearby. It also makes it difficult to use many modern weapons against them, as evidenced by the scene where a bunch of fighter jets sent to take one out suddenly shut down and crash into San Francisco Bay.[[note]]Real fighter jets are hardened to resist EMP for exactly this reason; but even if all the electronics on a fighter ''did'' get fried, it wouldn't suddenly go into an unrecoverable flat spin as shown in the movie as the engines would still be running for a while. It would probably be rendered useless as a weapons platform, though.[[/note]] Of note, at first it seems the use this accidentally (as it seems more them trying to use the shockwave that accompanies them setting it off), but by the time of the San Francisco, the male Muto has seemed to learn to use it offensively (they have absolutely no effect on Godzilla though, so why they even have the ability is unclear). According to the novelization, the EMP effect weakens Godzilla's [[BreathWeapon atomic breath]], which would explain why the attack was not as destructive as it is normally portrayed.

* In ''Film/TheReturnOfGodzilla'' a mild EMP effect was the side effect of prematurely detonating a nuclear weapon launched to kill Godzilla.

* The submarines in ''VideoGame/WeNeedToGoDeeper'' can use an EMP as an emergency weapon which destroys all enemies surrounding the sub, at the cost of leaving it temporarily defenseless.
* ''VideoGame/XCOM2'' has EMP Grenades and their upgrade, EMP Bombs. They do a large chunk of damage to robotic units, lower their hack defense and have a chance of stunning/shutting down said units for two turns. Codices, Spectres and Gatekeepers are hack-immune but otherwise equally as susceptible to the other effects.

* In ''Film/{{Godzilla|2014}}'' (2014), the [=MUTOs=] have the ability to emit natural electromagnetic pulses. Indeed, the lights suddenly going out in the area serves as an indirect sign that they are nearby. It also makes it difficult to use many modern weapons against them, as evidenced by the scene where a bunch of fighter jets sent to take one out suddenly shut down and crash into San Francisco Bay.[[note]]Real fighter jets are hardened to resist EMP for exactly this reason; but even if all the electronics on a fighter ''did'' get fried, it wouldn't suddenly go into an unrecoverable flat spin as shown in the movie as the engines would still be running for a while. It would probably be rendered useless as a weapons platform, though.[[/note]] Of note, at first it seems the use this accidentally (as it seems more them trying to use the shockwave that accompanies them setting it off), but by the time of the San Francisco, the male Muto has seemed to learn to use it offensively (they have absolutely no effect on Godzilla though, so why they even have the ability is unclear). According to the novelization, the EMP effect weakens Godzilla's Atomic Breath, which would explain why the attack was not as destructive as it is normally portrayed.

** EMP ''grenades'' are Tau equipment used for dealing with tanks. They rarely see that much use, due to the Tau being the inventors of the railgun -- a long-ranged tank killer that makes a [[FrickinLaserBeams lascannon]] look wimpy.

** ''VideoGame/Halo3''

** ''VideoGame/{{Crysis 2}}'' lacks EMP grenades, but it does have the K-Volt sub-machine gun, which fires electrostatic bolts that knock CELL troops off their feet and "stunlock" [[TentacledTerror Ceph]] enemies in place. The Ceph themselves have an EMP emitter seemingly built into their exosuits which instantly drains your suit energy, disabling your powered armor, cloaking, and sprinting functions, and they will make very good use of it when searching an area for you. Grunts and Stalkers have short-ranged [=EMPs=] that have a range of about a meter or two, while [[TripodTerror Pingers]] have a much larger one combined with some form of sonic pulse, leaving you at the mercy of its rapid-fire plasma cannon should you be caught in range.

* ''VideoGame/CryingSuns'':
** Some maps have EMP Towers as an environmental hazard. They periodically release electromagnetic pulses, stunning any squadrons in their immediate vicinity. They can easily stunlock a squadron if it’s caught in an area where the [=EMP=]s of two or more towers overlap.
** The boss Tetsuo unleashes an [=EMP=] Deluge on your battleship every 90 seconds. This causes tremendous heat buildup in your battleship’s systems, potentially crippling you with SubsystemDamage if you didn’t upgrade your heat capacitors beforehand.

* In ''VideoGame/CryingSuns'', the boss Tetsuo unleashes an [=EMP=] Deluge on your battleship every 90 seconds. This causes tremendous heat buildup in your battleship’s systems, potentially crippling you with SubsystemDamage if you didn’t upgrade your heat capacitors beforehand.