Is Steel Talons on Steam?

No. Steel Talons is not distributed on Steam, so there is no Steam Charts or SteamDB player count for it. Its live popularity is tracked here via Twitch viewership instead.

What platforms is Steel Talons on?

Steel Talons is available on Atari Lynx.

When did Steel Talons release?

Steel Talons was first released on December 31, 1992.

Steel Talons

Dec 31, 1992Atari Lynx

Steel Talons — frequently asked questions

Is Steel Talons on Steam?: No. Steel Talons is not distributed on Steam, so there is no Steam Charts or SteamDB player count for it. Its live popularity is tracked here via Twitch viewership instead.
What platforms is Steel Talons on?: Steel Talons is available on Atari Lynx.
When did Steel Talons release?: Steel Talons was first released on December 31, 1992.

Steel Talons on Wikipedia

Steel Talons is a combat flight simulator arcade video game released by Atari Games in 1991. The player pilots an "AT1196 Steel Talons combat helicopter. The 3D view is rendered with flat-shaded polygons using the TMS34010 combination CPU and programmable graphics processor. It was ported to the Genesis, Lynx, Atari Falcon, and Super Nintendo Entertainment System.

Source: Wikipedia (text under CC BY-SA 4.0).

Game details

Platforms: Atari Lynx

Details via IGDB.

Collector value & authenticity

Atari Lynx · PriceCharting sold data · Verified 2026-08-07

Loose

$15

Complete

$18

Sealed

$19

Region: NA+EU
Released: 1992
Authenticity: Low

Never re-released — the original cartridge is the only way to playLow counterfeit risk

Atari Lynx prices, all games & how to spot a fake

Filled-polygon helicopter combat on a handheld in 1992 — technically absurd, and it mostly works.

NuFX converted Atari’s arcade cabinet and Atari published it in 1992 — the first helicopter simulator on the platform, as German reviewers noted at the time. You fly attack missions of escalating difficulty against power stations, radar posts, airports and armour, with a gunship carrying minigun, rockets and guided missiles, and fuel and ammunition that run down and need resupplying from the map.

Like Hard Drivin’, this is the Lynx attempting genuine 3D geometry and paying for it in framerate. It was well enough regarded to take an honourable mention in a contemporary best-simulation round-up — unusual recognition for a handheld game in 1992.

How it was made

Converted by NuFX Inc. and John Sanderson, who had also made the Lynx Hard Drivin'. VideoGames & Computer Entertainment noted the irony in 1992: Steel Talons uses "the same type of polygon-fill scenery as Hard Drivin' did, but it corrects all of that game's problem areas beautifully... Sanderson seems to have learned a lot from his mistakes."

What the press said at the time

“The screen updates in this helicopter battle simulator happen at almost exactly the same rate as in Hard Drivin', about three frames per second, but there's a world of difference in the control response. Steel Talons just seems to know where you want to steer your chopper, and the controls are as easy to learn as they are responsive. This is the kind of game you can really lose yourself in.”
— VideoGames & Computer Entertainment #44, September 1992

Cartridge & preservation record

Cartridge ROM capacity 2 megabit (256 KB), measured from the preserved cartridge image.

Catalogue part number PA2104

Cartridge data from the No-Intro preservation database (metadata only — names, sizes and checksums, no game data).

Before you buy

Very cheap with an extremely narrow spread — loose, complete and sealed are all within a few dollars. Buy complete or sealed; there is no premium to avoid.