Great Cataclysm: Difference between revisions

[[File:SMT1 MCD Great Cataclysm 1 Screenshot.png|thumb|350px|Screenshot of the ICBMs exploding over Tokyo during the Great Cataclysm from the Mega-CD version of {{Link|Game|SMT1}}]]

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{{Startspoiler|1}}

In the three decades after the Great Cataclysm, the landscape of Tokyo changed and the entire world has been ravaged,<ref>{{Cite Game|quote=En no Ozuno: You must know that the world you lived in has been utterly destroyed.|title=Shin Megami Tensei|developer=|publisher=|platform=iOS|version=|lang=|transl=}}</ref> but there are still survivors. Among them, the [[Messian Church]], sees the Great Cataclysm as a trial by God to test their faith.<ref name=SMT1Messian></ref><ref>{{Cite Game|quote=Messian: The Cataclysm 30 years ago was a trial sent to us by God. But now the world is recovering, thanks to the hard work of those who never lost faith. Faith in God...|title=Shin Megami Tensei|developer=|publisher=|platform=iOS|version=|lang=|transl=}}</ref> A major difference between Tokyo in 199X and [[Tokyo 203X (Shin Megami Tensei)|203X]] is that overtime the yen has become worthless in favor of a new currency, [[Macca]]. The Hero learns this firsthand when attempting to give yen to a beggar outside of [[Shinjuku (Shin Megami Tensei)|Shinjuku]] who rejects it.<ref>{{Cite Game|quote=Shabby Man: What the hell am I supposed to do with this...? Give me Macca, dammit! Damn cheapskates... I hope you end up as Ozawa's slaves in Shinjuku... ...Don't you even know where Shinjuku is? It's north from here, and then west. > The yen HERO had is now nothing more than scrap paper...|title=Shin Megami Tensei|developer=|publisher=|platform=iOS|version=|lang=|transl=}}</ref> Now, yen only has value as a collector's item and can be exchanged with an old man in Shinjuku for Macca.<ref>{{Cite Game|quote=Old Man: What do you want? Ah, you have yen that was used before the Great Cataclysm! Won't you let me have it?|title=Shin Megami Tensei|developer=|publisher=|platform=iOS|version=|lang=|transl=}}</ref><ref>{{Cite Game|quote=Old Man: My collection's even bigger now...|title=Shin Megami Tensei|developer=|publisher=|platform=iOS|version=|lang=|transl=}}</ref>

==={{link|game|GMT}}===

''Giten Megami Tensei'' takes place on a parallel world to {{Link|Game|SMT1}} where similar events have taken place.<ref>{{Cite Web|quote=The comic version is on a different world line than the Sin-Megami-tensei series. The comic version and Giten-Megami-tensei are on the same world line.|author=[[Kazunari Suzuki]]|url=[https://x.com/baelzebub/status/1652335962805133313?s=20 Twitter]|archive=|published=April 29, 2023|retrieved=February 15, 2024|site=https://x.com|type=}}</ref> In this world, several demons suddenly began appearing in [[Tokyo (Giten Megami Tensei)|Tokyo]] when Commander [[Gotou]] of the [[JSDF]] began leading the Japanese military to suppress them. In response, the U.S. Marines began fighting both the demons and the JSDF, but were eventually forced to retreat. The American Ambassador [[Thorman]], believing that the suppression of Tokyo's demons was no longer possible ordered a submarine to launch nuclear missiles at the city. The damage caused from this explosion was comparable to that of the fallout from World War II. The Great Cataclysm is said to be part of the [[YHVH|Creator's]] plan to eliminate mankind.<ref>{{Cite Book|quote=時は20世紀末。今まで散発的に現われては、 デビルバスター達によって秘密裏に処理されていた悪魔達が、 突如大挙して東京に現われた。 間髪を入れず、悪魔を制圧するという名目を掲げ、五島司令に率いられた自衛隊がクーデターを起こす。 米海兵隊は、悪魔と自衛隊の両方を敵に廻して戦い、ついには敗退する。同じ頃米大使トールマンは、魔神トールと化して悪魔率いる少年と戦い敗れていた。もはや東京の悪魔制圧は不可能と考えたトールマンは、今際の際に原子力潜水艦の核ミサイル発射命令を出す。東京はミサイルの直撃を受け、 太平洋戦争以来の未曾有の大破壊に見舞われた。この災厄は、創造主による、 堕落した人類抹殺計画の一部と言われており、多くの天使たちがこれに加担している。|translquote=It is the end of the 20th Century. Demons, whose sporadic appearances were secretly dealt with by Demon Busters, suddenly began to appear in Tokyo in large numbers. In no time at all, under the pretext of suppressing the demons, Commander Gotou led the JSDF in a coup d'état. Then, the US Marine Corps made enemies of both the demons and the JSDF, fighting them before finally withdrawing. Meanwhile, the American Ambassador Thorman, after transforming into the Deity Thor, had been defeated by a boy who was capable of controlling demons. No longer believing the suppression of Tokyo's demons to be possible, Thorman ordered a submarine to fire its nuclear missiles. Tokyo was directly hit by the missiles, resulting in a Great Cataclysm whose destruction was on a scale not seen since the Pacific War. This disaster is said to be a part of the Creator's plan to bring about the fall of man and destroy it altogether, a plan in which many of His angels are complicit.|des=|chapter=|book={{Link|Game|GMT}} Manual|publyear=1997|author=|publisher=Atlus|lang=Japanese|volume=|edition=|page=3|transl=[[User:24karatDVNO]]|isbn=}}</ref>

==={{link|game|DeSum}}===

*The [[Aeon Genesis]] translation of {{Link|Game|SMT2}}'s manual states that after the Great Cataclysm "global nuclear holocaust ensued",<ref>{{Cite Book|quote=The Great Destruction of Tokyo Thorman presses the button to launch nuclear-warhead-tipped ICBMs at Tokyo. Global nuclear holocaust ensues.|des=|chapter=|book={{Link|Game|SMT2}} Manual|publyear=1994|author=|publisher=Atlus|lang=Japanese|volume=|edition=|page=5|transl=[[Aeon Genesis]]|isbn=}}</ref> but this is not present in the original Japanese text.<ref>{{Cite Book|quote=「東京大破壊」トールマンがICBMのボタンを押す。|des=|chapter=|book={{Link|Game|SMT2}} Manual|publyear=1994|author=|publisher=Atlus|lang=Japanese|volume=|edition=|page=5|transl=|isbn=}}</ref>

*In ''Shin Megami Tensei II'', [[Satan]] references the Great Cataclysm in comparison to the [[Megiddo Ark]], saying that it is capable of a "true Great Cataclysm" that will annihilate all evil.<ref>{{Cite Game|quote=方舟には　もう1つ役目がある　再生のために行う　真の大破壊　……イレースだ　それは　強力なエネルギー光　メギド・アークを　地上にあびせ　全ての悪しき物を消滅させる|translquote=|title=Shin Megami Tensei II|developer=ATLUS|publisher=|platform=SFC|version=|lang=|transl=}}</ref>

*The ICBM site located in Arizona<ref name=Arizona></ref> mentioned in {{Link|Game|DeSum}} may be a reference to the real life location {{wp|Titan Missle Museum|Air Force Facility Missile Site 8}}, a former ICBM site active during the height of the Cold War. This site was previously equipped with the largest single warhead used in the American ICBM program and was capable of launching a nine megaton thermonuclear warhead within 58 seconds which could reach a target over 6000 miles away in less than 30 minutes. The site was made in response to public fears of the United States' nuclear capabilities in comparison to the Soviet Union.<ref>{{Cite Web|quote=Air Force Facility Missile Site 8 (571-7) Military Reservation in Green Valley, Arizona, is the sole remaining Titan II Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) complex of the 54 that were "on alert" during the Cold War between 1963 and 1987. The Titan II missiles were contructed to survive a first strike nuclear attack from the Soviet Union and to retaliate. It is the single remaining example of the liquid-fueled ICBM missile launch facilities utilized by the Strategic Air Command. Titan II carried the largest single warhead used in the ICBM program and was capable of destroying targets that Atlas, Titan I and Minuteman I and II could not. Built in response to the "missile gap" panic of the late 1950s and early 1960s, Titan II Missile Site 571-7 provides a unique window into the design, construction and operation of a weapon system built to survive a first-strike nuclear attack and be able to launch its missile if so ordered.|author=Aviation: From Sand Dunes to Sonic Booms|url=[https://www.nps.gov/articles/air-force-facility-missile-site-8-5717-military-reservation.htm National Park Service]|archive=|published=November 26, 2017|retrieved=February 15, 2024|site=https://www.nps.gov/index.htm|type=}}</ref><ref>{{Cite Web|quote=The Titan II was capable of launching from its underground silo in 58 seconds and could deliver a nine megaton thermonuclear warhead to its target more than 6,000 miles (approximately 10,000 km) away in less than thirty minutes.|author=|url=[https://titanmissilemuseum.org/about/ Titan Missile Museum]|archive=|published=|retrieved=February 15, 2024|site=https://titanmissilemuseum.org/|type=}}</ref>

*In {{Link|Game|DSRK1}}, a lost soul tells [[Raidou Kuzunoha XIV]] that he has 30 seconds to take cover for the incoming ICBMs as a reference to {{Link|Game|SMT1}} when the [[Hero (Shin Megami Tensei)|Hero]] is placed on a 30 second timer after [[Thorman]] launches the ICBMs.<ref name=Raidou></ref>