Even though they had minimal screentime, the Jedi of 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 comics published by Dark Horse, as well as in the iconic 2003 Clone Wars TV show helmed by Samurai Jack creator Genndy Tartakovsky.
In the years since the prequels came to a close and LucasArts shut down, Star Wars' Clone Wars Jedi have become an indelible part of that era. That is largely thanks to the efforts of those video games and TV shows, particularly 2008's The Clone Wars series headed up by George Lucas and David Filoni, but games were at the forefront of promoting those characters during the beginning and peak of the prequel trilogy. Growing up with the Star Wars prequels, it was made easy to grow attached to what were inconsequential figures in live-action thanks to wider media. Comics, visual dictionaries, and reference books helped greatly in showing that these minor characters were actually storied in their own ways, but games put them in the driver's seat of their own adventures.
Star Wars: Jedi Power Battles Spotlighted Plo Koon & Adi Gallia
Although it was far from being a great Star Wars game, Star Wars Episode I: Jedi Power Battles was significant in that it was one of the first games to draw a spotlight to the Jedi Council. Obi-Wan Kenobi and Qui-Gon Jinn were also playable, but arguably more exciting was that it featured a playable Mace Windu, Plo Koon, and Adi Gallia. LucasArts outfitted Mace with a blue lightsaber (as this was before Samuel L. Jackson requested his purple blade during the making of Attack of the Clones), but Plo Koon and Master Gallia were canonically given an orange and red lightsaber respectively, which were both visually striking; the former because it was a rare lightsaber color, and the latter because only the Sith wielded red. Both lightsabers were eventually changed to blue in Attack of the Clones, but the original colors helped differentiate them from their other Jedi colleagues, even if the game itself was fairly lackluster.
Perhaps the most successful of Power Battles' Jedi in of gaining fame, however, was Plo Koon. The character's striking design was an obvious help in of making him stand out, but his early appearances in games helped provide a springboard for more significant roles in related Star Wars media, most notably Star Wars' clone trooper-focused The Clone Wars series. Plo Koon was a favorite of Dave Filoni, and was a lead character in that series, showing just how far he'd come since his early game appearances in the early 00s.
Star Wars: Jedi Starfighter Was Also Led By Adi Gallia
After starring in Jedi Power Battles and the 2001 Xbox-exclusive Obi-Wan game, Adi Gallia went on to be the lead of 2002's Star Wars: Jedi Starfighter, a sequel to Star Wars: Starfighter that was set prior to Attack of the Clones and featured a then brand new ship design. Although Gallia didn't have a speaking part in either of the first two prequels, she was already leading her own tie-in Star Wars video game. Granted, she didn't spend much time outside of a cockpit, but Jedi Starfighter still had a detailed narrative that further fleshed out the galaxy far, far away before the events of Episode II.
Following her video game appearances, Gallia would go on to feature regularly in Dark Horse's comics and also the Filoni-led Clone Wars TV series, where she was eventually killed by Darth Maul's brother, Savage Oppress. This makes her one of the more important prequel Jedi, both in of her fictional role and how she was one of the first to take lead in related Star Wars media following the release of The Phantom Menace. Video game appearances since have been less regular, but those who played the early 2000s Star Wars games are more likely than not to have crossed her path.
Star Wars: Battlefront 2's Story Showed The Clone-Jedi Relationship
One of the more significant games to endear the prequel era Jedi to Star Wars fandom was Battlefront 2, the sequel to Pandemic's Star Wars: Battlefront. Among the more significant changes the sequel made was introducing playable hero characters, with players able to assume the role of Jedi, Sith, or Bounty Hunter if they performed well enough in a given lobby. Most of the playable heroes and villains in Star Wars: Battlefront 2 were noteworthy Jedi and Sith from the films, but its story also spotlighted Aayla Secura and Ki-Adi-Mundi, the former of which had an important role in the game's Felucia mission. DLC for Star Wars: Battlefront 2 would also introduce two significant characters previously depicted in the Clone Wars micro-series in Kit Fisto and Asajj Ventress, providing - in the former's case - another opportunity to experience the conflict as one of the films' background Jedi.
Aayla Secura, Ki-Adi-Mundi, and Kit Fisto were only three of the many heroes featured in Star Wars: Battlefront 2, but their depictions in that game precipitated the development they'd receive in animation several years later. The 501st journal did a good job of showing the relationship between the clones and Secura in particular, which helped make her (weirdly overdrawn) death in Revenge of the Sith slightly more impactful. The relationship between the Jedi and clones was also a key focus of the 2008 Clone Wars series, and games like Battlefront 2 and Star Wars: Republic Commando helped lay the groundwork for it.
In their own way, these games helped cement the background Jedi of the prequels as iconic parts of their makeup. Whether it was the story-focused Jedi Starfighter or the original LEGO Star Wars, the visually striking Jedi of the prequel era found a home in video games. This helped make their brief appearances in The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, and Revenge of the Sith slightly more memorable, and the games themselves even foreshadowed much of the material later broached in animation. In this way, not only did they form a key pillar of making these background characters more than just a part of the onscreen furniture, but they also typify what makes the wider Star Wars canon so compelling.
