How Star Wars Games Made Prequel Jedi Famous

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Even though they had minimal screentime, the Jedi of Star Wars' prequel trilogy have gone on to become iconic among the series' fanbase, with video games partially responsible. Comics and TV shows have also done significant work to make the likes of Ki-Adi-Mundi and Kit Fisto more memorable than they otherwise were in live-action, but games were among the first to depict these characters significantly. An orange lightsaber-wielding Plo Koon was playable in 2000's Star Wars Episode I: Jedi Power Battles, while Jedi Master Adi Gallia was the main protagonist of Star Wars: Jedi Starfighter, which released the same year as Star Wars: Episode II — Attack of the Clones. These characters mostly lacked speaking roles in the films, but their unique designs made them memorable figures in the Expanded Universe - as well as ideal hero characters in Star Wars video games.

Star Wars video games had been expanding the galaxy far, far away since before the prequel trilogy, but the release of Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace led to a new wave of titles, many of which helped develop a then relatively unexplored corner of the franchise. Acting as both a developer and publisher, LucasArts presided over the release of dozens of Star Wars video games from 1999 to 2005, many of which had a prequel era setting. Many of these games were led by the more famous prequel characters, like Qui-Gon Jinn, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Anakin Skywalker, but many also spotlighted the visually impressive aliens who lacked significant speaking parts in the films. In live-action they were background characters, but in classic Star Wars video games, they were able to become the hero. Background Jedi would also receive further development during this period in