Steel Talons

It was ported to the Genesis, Lynx, Atari Falcon, and Super Nintendo Entertainment System.

• Title — Steel Talons • Developer — * Atari Games • NuFX (Lynx) • Polygames (Genesis) • Panoramic (SNES) • Publisher — Arcade Ports Atari Corporation (Falcon/Lynx) Tengen (Genesis) Left Field Entertainment (SNES) • Designer — Ed Logg Ed Rotberg • Programmer — Ed Rotberg • Artist — Sam Comstock Chuck Eyler Nicholas Stern • Composer — Brad Fuller John Paul • Platforms — Arcade, Atari Falcon, Lynx, Genesis, SNES • Released — Arcade • Genre — Combat flight simulator • Modes — Single-player, multiplayer • Arcade System — Atari Hard Drivin'

• Illustration — Arcade screenshot Steel Talons is an air combat arcade game. The player flies a helicopter equipped with a machine gun, rockets, and a limited number of air-to-surface guided missiles. It originated as a two-player cockpit arcade cabinet with both cooperative and competitive modes. In single-player mode or cooperative two-player mode, there are 19 missions. In competitive mode, players attempt to destroy each other's helicopter. The arcade version has a joystick, analog collective lever on the left side that controls the altitude of the helicopter, and rudder pedals. The back of the seat has a speaker thumps when the player's helicopter is hit. It has a button called "real heli mode" which makes flying more difficult, but also allows more freedom of movement and can be an advantage during multiplayer games.

The game's date of publication is listed by the United States Copyright Office as August 23, 1991. In September 1991, Steel Talons was shown at the 1991 Amusement & Music Operators Association (AMOA) expo in Las Vegas. That November, the game was released internationally, by Sega in Japan and by Atari in Europe. It was ported to the Genesis, Lynx, Atari Falcon, and the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. A Jaguar port was announced, but never released.