Play Steel Talons (Beta) Online

Grab the chunky flight stick, throttle up, and dive into chaotic helicopter dogfights—either team up or turn on your co-pilot when they least expect it. That cockpit arcade feel squeezed onto a Genesis controller somehow works.

File size: 244 bytes

Game Overview

Steel Talons was one of those arcade games that made you feel like a badass just sitting in the cockpit-style cabinet. The controls were chunky and satisfying—joystick in one hand, throttle in the other—and the graphics were surprisingly sharp for 1991. You’ve got three missions to blast through, plus a deathmatch mode if you and a buddy wanted to turn on each other (which, let’s be honest, always happened by the second round).

What really sold it was the two-player setup. Sitting side by side, coordinating attacks or suddenly betraying each other mid-mission gave it that chaotic arcade energy you just don’t get at home. The helicopter physics were arcade-y but just realistic enough that crashing felt like your fault, not the game’s. It’s a shame it never got a proper console port—the Genesis version was fun, but nothing beats the original cabinet’s vibe.