Online slot games based on legendary characters are very popular.  These characters are etched in public memory and therefore have a high brand value.  Also the legends surrounding these characters are rich in material for the symbols on the reels and for the bonus features in the slot games.

Homer’s Iliad about the Trojan War is the legend of all legends.  Realtime Gaming has a slot game called Achilles based on that legend.  To many persons Achilles was the real hero of the Trojan War even though he was killed halfway through.  In the slot game the reels are set with the impregnable Trojan fort in the background and the sea from which the Greeks navy approached it in the foreground. Achilles is the wild symbol and the Trojan Fort is the scatter symbol. The other symbols based on the legend are Helen of Troy over whom the was fought and the Trojan Horse that the Greeks used to gain entry to the fort. In one of the free spins bonus games all the Trojan Fort symbols change to either Achilles or Helen and thus increases the chances of payouts, which are triple of their normal values.

Prince of Sherwood is another slot game from Realtime Gaming. This is based on the legendary Robin Hood. This slot game addresses the legend more comprehensively. Robin Hood is the wild symbols. The other symbols include his arch rival the Sheriff of Nottingham, his girl friend Maid Miriam, the Bags of Gold he stole from the rich to give to the poor and his favorite weapon the Longbow. The bonus game is an archery contest at which Robin Hood was an expert. It is triggered by the Archery Board symbols. The player has to select either Robin Hood or the Sheriff. Both fire arrows at the target. The score of the selected archer leads to bonus credits. If the selected archer has the higher score then the next round is activated. This archer fires two more shots at the target to determine the number of free spins and multiplier.

There are more slot games based on Cleopatra than on any other legendary character. Most online gaming software providers have at least one slot game based on this theme. WagerWorks has Cleopatra, Rival Gaming has Cleopatra’s Coins, Realtime Gaming has Cleopatra’s Gold, Vegas Technology has Cleopatra’s Pyramid and Cryptologic has Cleo Queen of Egypt. Cleopatra’s Pyramid has an interesting bonus game. Legend has it that when all was lost Cleopatra locked herself in a pyramid and committed suicide by allowing a poisonous asp to bite her. In the bonus game players start at the base of the pyramid and move upwards if they select a bonus prize, which they get to keep. However if they select an asp then the bonus game ends.

In the last two years the quality of slot games has improved on two counts. There is more use of actual move clips instead of computer generated animations. Branded slots have enabled the value of powerful brands to be transferred to slot games. Both are combined in the Cryptologic slot game Braveheart, which is licensed by Paramount Pictures and is based on the Mel Gibson movie Braveheart. Apart from the symbols on the reels depicting characters and events associated with the legend, clips from the movie can be seen in the introduction and in the bonus game.