Steel Talons

From Sega Retro

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SteelTalons Title.png

Steel Talons
System(s): Sega Mega Drive
Publisher: Tengen
Developer:
Distributor: Domark (EU)
Original system(s): Arcade boards
Developer(s) of original games: Atari Games
Genre: Simulation[1], Shooting[2]

















Number of players: 1
Release Date RRP Code
Arcade
JP		 ¥? ?




































Sega Mega Drive
JP 		¥6,800 (7,004)6,800e[4] T-48103
Sega Mega Drive
US 		301043-0150
Sega Mega Drive
EU 		T-88046-50
Sega Mega Drive
UK 		£39.9939.99[5] T-88046-50
Sega Mega Drive
KR 		GM4101JT
Non-Sega versions

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Steel Talons (スティールタロンズ) is a helicopter combat game originally released in arcades by Atari Games. It was later brought to the Sega Mega Drive.

Sega also distributed the arcade version in Japan.

Gameplay

Steel Talons is an early 3D shoot-'em-up, in which players pilot a helicopter tasked with destroying a certain number of enemies on the map (combat missions) or enemy helicopters (head to head). As an arcade game (as opposed to contemporaries such as LHX Attack Chopper) the controls are greatly simplifed, and while a "real heli flight" option exists to bring more lifelike helicopter physics into play, by default the player can pick a height and expect to always remain at a fixed position above the ground.

A fires missiles, B fires the cannon, and C adjusts the height in Z. All of the weapons in the game automatically lock on to enemies if in short range.

Versions

Steel Talons was designed for much more powerful hardware than any home system available in 1991/1992, and so compromises were made for every platform the game was ported to; the Mega Drive, Super NES and Atari Lynx (with an Atari Falcon030 version appearing later in 1995). No home versions match the arcade game's performance, screen resolution or polygon count.

While the Mega Drive renders a true 3D world (versus the occaisonal simple polygon on a 2D gradient seen on the SNES), its version of Steel Talons was critically panned at release for its very low frame rates, often to the point of being unplayable. Conversely the Lynx version, designed for a much weaker handheld system, is a more accurate port with a smoother frame rate, and the Super NES, while looking very different to the arcade, also avoids many of the huge performance dips.

In complicated scenes, it is not uncommon to see the Mega Drive version drop below 5FPS.

Magazine articles

Main article: Steel Talons/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

SteelTalons MD US PrintAdvert.jpg
US print advert
SteelTalons MD US PrintAdvert.jpg
Logo-pdf.svg
Print advert in Sega Visions (US) #10: "November/December 1992" (1992-xx-xx)
also published in:
Logo-pdf.svg
Logo-pdf.svg
Print advert in Mega Force (FR) #18: "Juin 1993" (1993-0x-xx)
Logo-pdf.svg
Logo-pdf.svg
Print advert in Beep! MegaDrive (JP) #1993-07: "July 1993" (1993-06-08)
Logo-pdf.svg

Physical scans

Sega Retro Average 
Publication Score Source
48 [10]
56 [11]
45 №237, p39
51 [12]
57 №23
60 №1993-07, p44
55 №6, p26/27
55 [13]
45 №4, p12
68 №13, p66-68
29 [14]
27 №39, p54
69 №16, p36/37
62 №18, p67
74 №4, p40/41
62 [15]
80 №2, p12
Sega Mega Drive
 55
Based on
17 reviews
Sega Retro Average 
Publication Version Score
1700 igr dlya Sega (RU)
40
[16]
Beep! MegaDrive (JP) NTSC-J
48
[17]
Electronic Games (1992-1995) (US) NTSC-U
78
[18]
Mean Machines: The Essential Sega Guide (UK)
29
[19]
Famitsu (JP) NTSC-J
45
[20]
GameFan (US)
86
[21]
GamesMaster (UK) PAL
51
[22]
GamesMaster (UK)
57
[23]
Hippon Super (JP) NTSC-J
60
[24]
Joypad (FR) PAL
43
[25]
Mega (UK) NTSC-U
55
[26]
Mega Action (UK) NTSC-U
45
[27]
Mega Force (FR)
45
[28]
Mega Fun (DE) NTSC-U
67
[29]
MegaTech (UK) NTSC
68
[30]
Mean Machines Sega (UK) NTSC
29
[31]
Play Time (DE)
45
[32]
Sega Power (UK) NTSC-U
27
[33]
Sega Pro (UK) PAL
69
[34]
Sega Pro (UK) NTSC-U
62
[35]
Sega Zone (UK) NTSC
74
[36]
Sega Force (UK) PAL
62
[37]
Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) NTSC-J
56
[38]
Sonic the Comic (UK) PAL
80
[39]
Tricks 16 bit (RU)
54
[40]
Video Games (DE) PAL
25
[41]
Sega Mega Drive
 54
Based on
26 reviews

Steel Talons

Mega Drive, JP
SteelTalons MD JP Box.jpg
Cover
SteelTalons MD JP CartTop.jpg
SteelTalons MD JP Cart.jpg
Cart
Steel Talons MD JP Manual.pdf
Manual
Mega Drive, US
SteelTalons MD US Box.jpg
Cover
SteelTalons MD US Cart.jpg
Cart
Steel Talons MD US Manual.pdf
Manual
Mega Drive, US (cardboard)
SteelTalons MD US cb front.jpg
Cover
Mega Drive, EU
SteelTalons MD EU Box.jpg
Cover
SteelTalons MD EU Cart.jpg
Cart
Mega Drive, FR

Steel Talons MD FR Manual.pdf
Manual
Mega Drive, KR
SteelTalons MD KR Box.jpg
Cover
SteelTalons MD KR Cart Back.jpgSteelTalons MD KR Cart.jpg
Cart

Technical information

ROM dump status

System Hash Size Build Date Source Comments
Sega Mega Drive
✔
CRC32 10e4ec63
MD5 4523a96042e40b0d1ad24cc80be72c37
SHA-1 b4f0a13646c13911be5550103301af25827fcd0c
512kB 1992-07 Cartridge (US/EU)
Sega Mega Drive
✔
CRC32 04f388e6
MD5 edfa7b1d6ce95725d2803b8f82e01b90
SHA-1 93c51ec9fcc56d858642018905b3defc17442c26
512kB 1993-06 Cartridge (JP)
Sega Mega Drive
 ?
CRC32 c4052f18
MD5 8821e3b3bb6c1bda06f419527b3ef820
SHA-1 c3edd1f6b9f4fb16104d09c17b66feebb3785f4e
512kB 1992-07 Page

References

  1. ↑ File:SteelTalons MD KR Box.jpg
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 https://sega.jp/history/hard/megadrive/software_l.html (Wayback Machine: 2020-07-02 23:21)
  3. ↑ Sega Arcade History, Enterbrain, page 107
  4. ↑ Beep! MegaDrive, "July 1993" (JP; 1993-06-08), page 147
  5. ↑ Sega Force, "February 1993" (UK; 1993-01-14), page 83
  6. ↑ Electronic Gaming Monthly, "December 1992" (US; 1992-xx-xx), page 99
  7. ↑ Game Informer, "January/February 1993" (US; 199x-xx-xx), page 68
  8. ↑ Electronic Games (1992-1995), "February 1993" (US; 1993-01-12), page 34
  9. ↑ Sega Visions, "February/March 1993" (US; 199x-xx-xx), page 65
  10. ↑ Beep! MegaDrive, "July 1993" (JP; 1993-06-08), page 20 (22)
  11. ↑ Sega Saturn Magazine, "September 1995" (JP; 1995-08-08), page 85 (87)
  12. ↑ GamesMaster, "February 1993" (UK; 1993-01-21), page 50/51 (50)
  13. ↑ Mega, "January 1993" (UK; 1992-12-17), page 52/53 (52)
  14. ↑ Mean Machines Sega, "January 1993" (UK; 1992-12-28), page 74-76 (74)
  15. ↑ Sega Force, "February 1993" (UK; 1993-01-14), page 82/83 (82)
  16. ↑ 1700 igr dlya Sega, "" (RU; 2001-xx-xx), page 289
  17. ↑ Beep! MegaDrive, "July 1993" (JP; 1993-06-08), page 22
  18. ↑ Electronic Games (1992-1995), "January 1993" (US; 1992-12-10), page 68
  19. ↑ Mean Machines: The Essential Sega Guide, "" (UK; 1993-11-18), page 96
  20. ↑ Famitsu, "1993-07-02" (JP; 1993-06-18), page 39
  21. ↑ GameFan, "Volume 1, Issue 2: December 1992" (US; 1992-xx-xx), page 9
  22. ↑ GamesMaster, "February 1993" (UK; 1993-01-21), page 50
  23. ↑ GamesMaster (UK) "Series 2, episode 13" (1992-12-24, 24:00) (+6:05)
  24. ↑ Hippon Super, "July 1993" (JP; 1993-06-04), page 44
  25. ↑ Joypad, "Avril 1993" (FR; 1993-0x-xx), page 67
  26. ↑ Mega, "January 1993" (UK; 1992-12-17), page 52
  27. ↑ Mega Action, "September 1993" (UK; 1993-08-12), page 12
  28. ↑ Mega Force, "Avril 1993" (FR; 1993-0x-xx), page 104
  29. ↑ Mega Fun, "11/92" (DE; 1992-10-xx), page 35
  30. ↑ MegaTech, "January 1993" (UK; 1992-12-20), page 66
  31. ↑ Mean Machines Sega, "January 1993" (UK; 1992-12-28), page 74
  32. ↑ Play Time, "2/93" (DE; 1993-01-07), page 109
  33. ↑ Sega Power, "February 1993" (UK; 1993-01-07), page 54
  34. ↑ Sega Pro, "February 1993" (UK; 1993-01-14), page 36
  35. ↑ Sega Pro, "April 1993" (UK; 1993-03-11), page 67
  36. ↑ Sega Zone, "February 1993" (UK; 1993-01-20), page 40
  37. ↑ Sega Force, "February 1993" (UK; 1993-01-14), page 82
  38. ↑ Sega Saturn Magazine, "September 1995" (JP; 1995-08-08), page 87
  39. ↑ Sonic the Comic, "12th June 1993" (UK; 1993-06-12), page 12
  40. ↑ Tricks 16 bit, "Tricks Sega Gold 800 igr" (RU; 1998-03-20), page 179
  41. ↑ Video Games, "10/93" (DE; 1993-09-29), page 104
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