Java Edition removed features

Since the beginning of Minecraft's development, there have been a number of features that were removed from the game. These features may have been replaced, or a developer decided against the feature later on.

Note that this page only documents game features that were removed, features of a particular game element that were removed are noted in that element's history.

Blocks and items

Horse saddle

The horse saddle icon used in the inventory.

Horse saddles, were items that were added in 13w16a, along with horses that worked just like regular saddles, but for horses instead of pigs. Taming a horse was required before putting a horse saddle on it. The horse saddle was craftable using the following recipe:

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The item ID used was 416, which refers to the armor stand in current versions.

Horse saddle items were later removed from the game in 13w18a, and normal saddles are now used for both pigs and horses.

Locked chest

Main article: Locked chest

Locked chests were an April Fools block. Pressing use on the chest would bring up a screen, and clicking on the "Go to Store" button would forward you to the "Minecraft Store".

Generated structures

Brick pyramid

File:Infdev Pyramid.png

A brick pyramid spawned on a small island in the middle of the ocean.

For a brief time, brick pyramids were large structures that generated far away from the spawn point. These pyramids were completely solid; they had no interior rooms. A strange quality about these pyramids is that if one dug under it, a layer of dirt and stone extended under the pyramid. This suggests it spawned right on top of the terrain instead of being a complete pyramid with the bottom underground (such as desert temples). Pyramids were removed in later versions of Infdev.

Obsidian wall

File:LF.PNG

The obsidian walls in Infdev

Obsidian walls were used in Infdev to mark the positions of the cardinal directions. This created two intersecting planes extending just above the surface of the solid material that surrounds them. This has long since been removed.

Mobs

Beast Boy

Main article: Beast Boy

Beast Boy were humanoid mobs, created by Dock.

Black Steve

Main article: Black Steve

Black Steve was a mob created by Dock.

Human

Main article: Human

Humans were hostile mobs which take the form of clones of the default skin.

Steve

Main article: Steve (mob)

Steve was the name of one variant of the now unused human mobs. It was created by Dock.

Rana

Main article: Rana

Rana was a passive mob created by Dock that resembled a little girl with a frog hat.

Generic villager

File:Green Villager.png

Generic villagers were a type of villager. In 1.3.1, the ability to spawn them was added, though it required external tools or mods. In 1.7 and above, they could be spawned using /summon Villager ~ ~ ~ {Profession: -1}. They only had one trade: 7-9 gold ingots for 1 emerald. In 14w02a, due to changes in the trading system, attempting to trade with generic villagers crash the game. In 14w20a, generic villagers were removed from the game, as villagers with negative profession IDs become farmers.

Unused

These features never had any use in game.

Cog

On January 25, 2010, Notch posted a video of the cogs being placed onto the wall of a cliff.

In Indev on January 26, 2010, the code for cogs (originally named Gear) was added. It could only get obtained by inventory hacking and was invisible in the inventory. When hacked into the game, cogs could only be placed on a side of any block, placing them in a space where two sides are next to each other would cause two cogs to appear on both sides. Placed cogs were impossible to destroy; any mining directed at a gear phased through to the block behind it, much like water. If the block a gear was on was destroyed, the gear was not removed, but oddly, was invisible. The cog still existed in the map and would show up again if a solid block was replaced. Cogs placed in mid-air using a map editor were also invisible and would show up if a block was placed next to them. Cogs can be only removed using water to flow on them. A cog's sprite consisted of two parts; the center rod and the animated gear.

In Infdev on February 27, 2010, Gear was renamed to Cog, and later on June 27, 2010, it was removed.

Cogs had a data value of 55, which was replaced by redstone in Alpha 1.0.1.

Crying obsidian

Crying obsidian was a texture in Minecraft for an abandoned project to implement a spawn-point changing obelisk. It was abandoned after the introduction of beds. It would have been crafted with an obsidian block and lapis lazuli.

The texture for crying obsidian was removed in Beta 1.5.

On February 9, 2012, Jeb was asked "Can you bring back Crying Obsidian or add some new color/texture blocks?" to which he responded "As soon as I've made preparations for more texture space."

Furniture

File:Chair and table.png

Chair from Indev's terrain.png file.

In Indev's terrain.png were two textures which might be interpreted as a chair (side and front). The actual purpose of those textures is unknown. The 2nd texture might be the side view of a table. On Word of Notch, furniture, and more specifically chairs, is mentioned a few times.

Pigman

Minecraft user Miclee came up with the idea for pigmen. He was given the Bacon Cape as a reward, but when Notch was asked for personal capes by other users, the Bacon Cape was taken away from Miclee to prevent further commotion.

Notch mentioned April 25, 2011 that he might add pigmen as villages' townspeople. Although in the Beta 1.9 pre-releases, a different villager mob was introduced.

In 1.6.2, the texture file was removed from Minecraft.

Play Tutorial Level button

An unclickable Play Tutorial Level button was added during Indev. It could be found on the main screen. It was finally removed during the transition from Alpha to Beta stage, but no such tutorial level existed between Indev and Beta.

Skis

File:Skis.png

skis texture

A texture known in the game files as "skis.png", was added in the 1.4.6 update. Its textures were added by Dinnerbone as a red herring. The texture was removed in the Horse Update.

Studded armor

Studded armor was several sprites that were added sometime around Indev 0.31 in items.png. They were taken from Notch's unfinished game, Legend of the Chambered, along with other armor sprites. The sprites were never implemented into gameplay and were eventually removed.

Other

Winter mode

Main article: Winter Mode

Winter mode was a randomly occurring map type for Minecraft Alpha. It was added on the 9th of July, 2010 and was the first "biome" to appear in Minecraft. It was removed in the Halloween Update.

Themes

Main article: Theme

A Theme is the general style the level generator uses to create maps. Added in 0.31 update in January 7, 2010, it dramatically affects Indev mode's game mechanics (such as monster spawn zones and boundary liquid). Paradise and Woods themes were added in Indev update on February 14, 2010. Themes were removed for later on in the middle of infdev and are comparable to biomes in Alpha, Beta, and current Minecraft versions.

Isometric screenshot

Main article: Isometric screenshot

In the Indev versions of the game, you can take a screenshot of the map from an isometric perspective using F7.