Steel Talons was originally an arcade video game by Atari Games, and was released for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, the Atari Lynx handheld, Atari ST, Atari Falcon and SNES. In the arcade, it came as a two-player cockpit cabinet and featured both cooperative and competitive game play modes.
The player takes on the role of a pilot for an "AT1196 Steel Talons combat helicopter." The game's helicopter is equipped with a machine gun, rockets, and a limited number of air-to-surface guided missiles. Several missions are available for play. Completing early missions unlocks later missions.