Playing video games in lieu of watching Star Wars prequels

[Sut]

I’ve read about the Machete order and everyone praises it. I will finally try this myself.

The best parts are with this order:
1) You notice Luke at the beginning of Return of the Jedi is acting just like Anakin from the end of "Revenge of the Sith." He even force chokes a couple guards and tells Jaba not to defy him in the first scenes.

2) Midechlorines are not any kind of important and are barely even mentioned.

3) A child never falls in love with an adult he ends up with, because that is super gross.

4) Obi Wan always looks like Obi Wan.

5) Jar Jar is in, like, 3 minutes of film.

6) All the surprises remain surprises for any "first time" viewers you watch with (Luke and Leia aren't born and named until the end of Episode 5, right before Return if the Jedi).

I believe I also read it lets Palpatine's reveal remain something of a surprise, but have only watched in this order once (about to start again tonight actually), so I'm hazy on that one.

I did initially dismiss this but you make interesting points which have intrigued me. Will give it a try.

[Atarifever]

I never understood the hullabaloo over the "Machete order". How exactly are Episodes II and III better when coming into them right after The Empire Strikes Back? I can't think of a more unflattering contrast.

Because it's much more flattering than having them be such a slow crawl up to 4, 5,and 6.

I think this order is also the only one that makes any real sense. I am certain George Lucas has exaggerated how far along episodes 1, 2, and 3 were back in the 70s. In interviews, he always says those were mostly ready to go, with 4, 5, and 6 going first because 4 was the most "complete" single movie if it never got to go anywhere else. If that's the case, then stuff like Palpatine's reveal, Vader being Luke and Leia's father, Ben being Obi Wan, Anakin having turned to Vader rather than being "betrayed and murdered" by him, etc. were never intended to be surprises to the audience, only to the characters. I think Lucas is a better storyteller than that, so I very much doubt the whole backstory was supposed to be revealed in 3 episodes before "A New Hope." That would have been very slow, boring storytelling, with hardly any surprises at all.