Namco engineer Shigeki Toyama produced the arcade cabinet and light guns, and worked as a planner closely with the development team.

[1] Garcia and Cliff are assigned by the Neo Arc to destroy the terrorist organization STURM, who have captured the scientist Dr. Ryan and his assistant Dr. Ellis to create a world-ending superweapon.

[3] Stages feature a large variety of objects that can be destroyed purely for amusement, such as boxes, windows, barrels and fuel tanks.

If players' shooting accuracy was low, a cutscene plays of the Neo Arc police chief berating Garcia and Cliff about causing almost as much damage as STURM.

The game's light guns and arcade cabinet were designed by Namco engineer Shigeki Toyama, who is often described as the company's "Doc Brown character" for his strange yet innovative ideas.

[11] Your Commodore labeled it as "quite a good blast",[3] and retrospectively Hardcore Gaming 101 applauded its overall presentation and quality, saying that being Namco's first light gun shooter was impressive alone.

[11] Gamest stated its amount of action was comparable to films such as The Terminator, and said it helped make it one of the best light gun shooters of the era.

[2][3] Hardcore Gaming 101 applauded its sprite-scaling effects and amount of shootable background objects, which add depth and realism to the levels.

[3] Sega-16 expressed disappointment towards the lack of a home release, specifically for the Sega CD and 32X, saying that its intense action and great gameplay would "undoubtedly have sold among Genesis owners".

[18] A direct arcade sequel, Steel Gunner 2, was released a year later in Japan in March 1992 and in North America the following month.

[6] The plot follows Garcia and Cliff piloting their Gargoyle mecha suits to fight off the Vanguard organization, a terrorist group with an army of genetically-engineered supersoldiers to destroy all of Earth and enslave mankind.