Java Edition removed features

Since the beginning of the development of Java Edition, 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: 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. See Java Edition unused features for features that are still currently in the game.

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

Horse saddles were later removed from the game in 13w18a, and the original saddles (found in dungeons) are now used for pigs, horses and striders. It was available as item ID 416, which referred to the armor stand from Java Edition 1.8 onwards.

Studded armor


Studded armor consisted of several sprites that were added in Java Edition Indev 0.31 20091231-2. They were taken from Notch's unfinished game, Legend of the Chambered, along with other armor sprites. The sprites were added for testing purposes, didn't have armor health, and were eventually removed.

Locked chest
Locked chests were an April Fools block added in Java Edition Beta 1.4. They would spawn rarely and emit a light level of 15. Pressing on a locked chest would bring up a screen, and clicking on the "Go to Store" button would forward the player to the "Minecraft Store", where the player could buy a number of fake products. They were subsequently removed from normal gameplay in Java Edition Beta 1.4_01, but it remained within the game's code until it was removed entirely in Java Edition 1.7.2.

It was available as block ID 95, prior to being replaced with stained glass in snapshot 13w41a.

Powered comparator
During the development for Java Edition 1.5, the comparator at first used two separate block IDs to represent its powered and unpowered states, with name IDs  and , and numeric IDs 149 and 150 respectively. As of snapshot 13w05a, the  block was removed from use in the game, replaced by a   block state on the   block. It is removed completely in snapshot 17w47a for Java Edition 1.13, as of The Flattening.

Reverted potions
Before snapshot 15w31a for Java Edition 1.9, potions had a form known as "reverted". In the inventory, reverted potions looked identical to their base potion, much like mundane and mundane (extended) potions, and their usage was also identical to their base potions, with the exception of turning into reverted potions rather than base potions. The only difference was the data values.

There were two general methods to create reverted potions, one of which involved the addition of fermented spider eyes. Reversion, in general, referenced changing a longer, upgraded potion into its original weaker potion (for example, changing from a potion of Poison (extended) into a potion of Harming (reverted) by adding fermented spider eye).
 * The first method involved adding glowstone dust (typically) to an already upgraded tertiary potion. Since these tertiary potions have already been modified with redstone dust (typically), they could be changed to their original (reverted) unmodified states depending on which modifier was added previously. Not all potions could be reverted (or react, for that matter) when glowstone dust or redstone dust was added to an upgraded tertiary potion (for example, adding redstone dust to an already extended potion did not yield a new potion).
 * The second method involved the addition of fermented spider eyes, followed by glowstone dust (usually). Method two worked by adding a fermented spider eye to an extended positive potion (i.e. an extended tertiary potion). In almost all cases, this would corrupt the potion and produce a negative potion of equal strength (in this case, extended). Then, glowstone dust (depending on the recipe) was added to the extended negative potion. Since these negative tertiary potions (regardless of origin) have already been modified with redstone dust, the addition of glowstone dust would revert the potion to a potion of lesser duration.

A good example of this process at work is the reversion of a potion of Weakness. A potion of Weakness can be made in two ways. The first method is by adding a fermented spider eye to a mundane potion (water bottle + ghast tear / glistering melon slice / blaze powder / magma cream / sugar / spider eye), then adding redstone dust to produce a potion of Weakness (extended). The second method is by adding a fermented spider eye to either a potion of Strength or a potion of Regeneration. Potions of Strength and Regeneration, in their base or extended forms, will produce potions of Weakness with equal magnitude (for the sake of this example, fermented spider eye is added to a potion of Strength (extended) to produce a potion of Weakness (extended)).

Now, there should be two potions of Weakness (extended). Glowstone dust could be added to the potion of Weakness (extended) which reverted the potion into a base potion of Weakness. The act of reducing the duration from 4:00 to 1:30 was reversion.

Generic dead coral block
In snapshot 18w09a, all coral blocks had the same texture, colored differently. Because of this, there was only one dead variant needed. By the time of snapshot 18w10a, each color of the coral block had its own unique texture, but would still all die into the same generic dead coral block from the previous snapshot. The generic dead coral block was removed and replaced with dead variants for each color in snapshot 18w10b.

Rose
The rose was removed from Java Edition in 1.7.2 snapshot 13w36a, and the rose was replaced by the poppy, which had the same function: crafting red dye.

Six-sided blocks
The following blocks existed in the game at some point before being phased out with the advent of block states. Whether they will return is not known. Interestingly, other six-sided blocks resulting from similar circumstances such as wood and smooth stone were not removed, as they were made craftable in later updates.

Blocks previously obtainable as items
The game prevents certain blocks from being obtained through normal gameplay methods, such as crafting, the creative inventory, the pick block key, and the Silk Touch enchantment. It also prevents such blocks from being given through less conventional methods, such as inventory editing, mods, and commands. Until Java Edition 1.7.2 and 1.8, there had been a wide variety of blocks that could be edited into the inventory; over time, however, the game was updated so that these blocks became entirely unavailable, even though one utilized inventory editing.

Currently, the game only accepts namespaced IDs (such as ) in most commands, and uses only these namespaced IDs when assigning blocks to the inventory and save files. The old method of obtaining a block via numerical IDs is no longer an option. In addition, the game automatically removes blocks with illegitimate namespaced IDs from the inventory, so using inventory editors is also no longer an option. Furthermore, certain blocks with both block and item forms, such as, cannot be obtained in their block form in the inventory; however, since the game has a corresponding item named  , the item form is given instead.

Obtainable until Java Edition 1.7.2
In snapshot 13w37a for Java Edition 1.7.2, the command was modified so that it would display the name of the item in chat. Due to this, 26 blocks were made unavailable:

Air item
Air was briefly available as an item in snapshot 13w38b for Java Edition 1.7.2, while Grum had been refactoring the code that represented air in-game. This availability only lasted for one snapshot, as it was the focus of several bugs, most notably a bug that made villagers and large slimes drop air upon death.

Obtainable until Java Edition 1.8
In snapshot 14w25a for Java Edition 1.8, changes were made to the way the icons of items were rendered, and the way block data was internally represented. Due to this, 12 blocks were made unavailable:

Obtainable until Java Edition 1.9
In snapshot 15w49a for Java Edition 1.9, one block was made unavailable:

Chainmail armor
Since shortly after their introduction in Indev, and until snapshot 14w25a for Java Edition 1.8, chainmail armor was craftable using fire. As of that snapshot, fire can no longer exist as an inventory item, even with inventory editing, and the recipe itself was removed from the game's registry of recipes.

Chainmail armor may still be obtained in other ways.

Enchanted golden apple
Since their introduction in Java Edition 1.3.1, and until snapshot 15w44a for Java Edition 1.9, enchanted golden apples had the following crafting recipe:

Enchanted golden apples may still be obtained in other ways.

Horse armor
In snapshot 13w16a of Java Edition 1.6.1, a crafting recipe for iron, golden and diamond horse armor was added. In snapshot 13w18a, the crafting recipe was removed; it is unknown why Mojang did this.

Iron, golden and diamond horse armor may still be obtained in other ways.

Brick pyramid
For a brief time, starting in Infdev 20100227, 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 pyramids). Pyramids were removed in later versions of Infdev. The pyramid's base was usually 63 × 63 blocks and was 32 blocks high. Whenever it spawned on top of a large body of water, it would usually add to the number of bases.



Indev house
The Indev house was a structure available in Indev versions. It generated when the player first started a world.

When the player started a world in the original Indev version, the Indev house would generate as a mossy cobblestone house with two torches, and the player would have flint and steel in their hotbar.

When the player started a world in Indev 0.31 20100124 to the beginning of Infdev, the Indev house would generate as a planks house with two torches and a floor made out of stone.

Obsidian wall
Obsidian walls were used in Infdev to mark the position 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, as it was only found in Infdev 20100227.

Old village
Old villages and old zombie villages could generate in plains, savanna, taiga, ice flats, and desert biomes. The type of village, and therefore the style of all structures within it, was determined by the biome where the village well was located. All village biome variants were essentially palette swaps of each other, with the exception of one house in the old ice flats village, which would generate with randomized crop items such as carrots and beetroots. The "old villages" were not known as such until the Village & Pillage update.



Far Lands


The Far Lands was the area that formed the "edge" of the "infinite" map in Java Edition versions prior to Java Edition Beta 1.8. They initiate differently depending on the game's version. In Infdev 20100227, there was a wall of stone that generated 33,554,432 blocks away from spawn. In a later version of Infdev, this changed to where the Far Lands that existed until Java Edition Beta 1.8 began at about 12,550,820 blocks from the center of the world, X/Z 0. These Far Lands had two kinds: Edge Far Lands (The Loop) and Corner Far Lands (The Stack); both feature extremely strange terrain. They are known to have several impacts on gameplay, including floating-point precision errors and huge framerate / tickrate drops due to excessive coordinates, and the farther from the center of the world, the worse the effects, until the game freezes and crashes. Beyond X/Z 32,000,000 the chunks are just fake chunks, causing the player to fall through the terrain.

When mods like the "Cubic Chunks" mod came out, a new set of Far Lands called the Sky Far Lands was discovered. When the height limit is removed completely, the Far Lands continue to generate upward until they eventually collide with the Sky Far Lands 25,101,640 blocks upward or to the Void Far Lands 25,101,640 blocks below the world.

In Java Edition Beta 1.7.3 (and probably as far back as Java Edition Alpha v1.2.0), there existed another set of Far Lands called the Farther Lands, which was found very quickly after the discovery of the Far Lands, and generated approximately 1,004,065,600 blocks away from the center of the world. These Farther Lands combined with the previous Far Lands created an even stranger mixture. In this mixture of Far Lands, the terrain was very smooth and hardly changed its shape. Every block would appear 2 dimensional. This was especially noticeable in the Corner Farther Lands.

The Far Lands were removed in Java Edition Beta 1.8, but they still exist in Bedrock Edition.

Monoliths
Monoliths were glitched areas of terrain that happened in the late versions of Java Edition Infdev and were patched out of the game with the Halloween Update. These monoliths would cause the terrain to abruptly generate up to the height limit, with natural grass and ore generation. They could theoretically generate infinitely upwards, only being stopped by the height limit, which at this point in the game's development, was 128 blocks. The area below the monoliths was completely hollow, except for water generating at sea level and a layer of bedrock at the bottom, making the normal terrain seem like inverse monoliths. It is possible to find small crevices in large monoliths, where normal terrain was generated. They tended to generate around flattish terrain. They were caused by an error in the Perlin noise generator.

By setting "Biome Scale Weight" to negative values in customized worlds, they could generate from snapshot 14w17a for Java Edition 1.8 to snapshot 18w05a for Java Edition 1.13, but with the removal of the "Customized" world type altogether in snapshot 18w06a for Java Edition 1.13, this can no longer be recreated.

Trees
Some types of trees can no longer be grown with saplings, and no longer generate naturally in new terrain. They were often the result of using existing textures for new log and leaves types that had not yet been added; new trees subsequently "borrowed" logs and leaves from other trees. For example acacia trees, when they were first added, used jungle logs and oak leaves.

Glass pillars
Glass pillars were added in Java Edition Beta 1.9 Prerelease 3. They were used to mark the location of strongholds, as the eye of ender was not yet added. They were removed in Java Edition Beta 1.9 Prerelease 4, due to the addition of the eye of ender.

Isometric screenshot


In the Indev versions of Minecraft, players could take a screenshot of the map from an isometric perspective using. When the game captured an isometric image, it would save the current location of all mobs and show any and all alterations to the map the player had made that would be visible from the perspective of the sun (at sunrise). The player would not be visible unless the player was in third-person view before taking the isometric screenshot.

The isometric screenshot would save to their local user folder as "mc_map_####.png" where #### represents the number of the screenshot starting at 0000 up to 9999.

There are some limitations that existed with the screenshots:
 * They could only capture the player's sprite when in third-person view.
 * Due to a glitch, the screenshot would only render blocks that are in the player's FOV, and everything else will either be black or show underground sections that would have been obstructed.

Indev map shape


The map shape refers to the general dimensions the level generator used to create maps. It was added in Indev 0.31 and it altered the length, width, and height of the map.

There were three kinds of shapes:
 * "Square" was a map of equal length and width, with a height of 64 blocks.
 * "Long" was 2 times the length and $1/2$ times the width of a square map.
 * "Deep" was 4 times the height and $1/2$ times the width and length of a square map.

There were three kinds of sizes:

Indev map theme
The map theme refers to the general style the level generator used to create maps. It was added in Indev 0.31 on January 7, 2010, and it dramatically affected game mechanics, such as monster spawn zones and boundary liquid. "Paradise" and "Woods" themes were added in Indev on February 14, 2010. Themes were removed for in the middle of Infdev and were comparable to biomes in Alpha, Beta, and current Minecraft versions.

Normal


"Normal" was the default map theme. Above ground, one would find sporadic trees and generally favorable space. The weather was constantly partly cloudy, and the lengths of night and day were equal. Underground, ores of all types could be found and lava was generally found near the bedrock layer.

Boundary liquid: water.

Hell


"Hell" was the second map theme introduced within the map theme feature. Hell featured significantly less lighting during the day, where mobs of all types would spawn at any time. All water was replaced with lava, grass was replaced with dirt and grass would only spawn in place of sand during map generation. Mushrooms were abundant on the surface. Farming worked at a much slower rate (one plant stage per day cycle). This map theme was comparable to the later added Nether.

Boundary liquid: lava.

Paradise


The third map theme, "Paradise", was more relaxed than the other themes. It featured larger beaches and plentiful flora compared to the "Normal" theme, and the time is always set to "Noon" (the sun never sets); hostile mobs will only spawn underground. Farming works at a much faster rate (from planting to harvestable in 30–45 minutes).

Boundary liquid: water.

Woods


The fourth map theme, "Woods", was a middle-ground of challenge between "Normal" and "Hell". It provided constant overcast during the day that reduces light, and tree density was higher than the other themes, resulting in the land space becoming smaller. Additionally, mushrooms were spotty throughout the above-ground areas.

Boundary liquid: water.

Indev map type


The map type refers to the general format the level generator used to create maps. Added in Indev 0.31 20100106, it dramatically affected gameplay, such as the availability of water, sand, and gravel. The further the player traveled towards the end of the map, the slower they moved.

There were four kinds of map types:
 * "Island" was the default map type featuring minor hills and liquid existing at the borders.
 * "Floating" was similar to the floating islands in the "Buffet" world type today — it contained multiple floating islands. Falling from these islands resulted in death as the surface was covered in bedrock. Floating gravel and sand was common, while water was rare.
 * "Flat" was similar to the "Superflat" world type today — it featured flat grass with flowers, trees and a starting house.
 * "Inland" featured a slightly hilly landscape, which was essentially the "Island" map type with infinite flat land at its borders as opposed to water. Sand and gravel were common.

"Winter Mode" map type


"Winter Mode" was a randomly occurring map type in Alpha. It was added on July 9, 2010, in Java Edition Alpha v1.0.4 and was the first "biome" to appear in Minecraft.

There were a couple of differences compared to normal worlds. First, there was the presence of snowflakes, which fell constantly. There were four different kinds of snowflakes. These snowflakes would create snow tiles on any block that was directly exposed to the sky, provided that it was a solid block. Due to a lack of unfrozen water, reeds were really hard to find. The second element unique to "Winter Mode" was the presence of ice. When a map was generated, most exposed water blocks would be frozen into ice. The water did not freeze completely near gravel beaches. The third element was a decrease in the spawning rate of passive mobs.

"Winter Mode" was removed in Java Edition Alpha v1.2.0 with the addition of proper biomes.

Biomes prior to Java Edition 1.7.2
Versions prior to Java Edition 1.7.2 had many biomes that were later removed.

The following biomes were removed in Java Edition 1.7.2:
 * Mountain Edge (still exists in the "Buffet" world type)
 * Frozen Ocean (restored in Java Edition 1.13)

Biomes prior to Java Edition Beta 1.8
In Java Edition Beta 1.8, biomes received a major overhaul, removing and changing many of them. Prior to these changes, there were 13 biome types that were much smaller and less distinct.

Gravel roads
Before Java Edition 1.10, villages used gravel to signify roads; however, in Java Edition 1.10, grass paths were added to signify village roads.

Savanna village
Prior to Java Edition 1.10, villages that would generate in savanna biomes used oak logs, oak planks, oak fences and oak stairs. This village type was replaced by villages made out of acacia derived blocks.

"Customized" world type
"Customized" was a world type that gave control over many settings that affected terrain generation, such as ores, sea level, biomes, structures, and many variables that govern the random shape of the terrain. It was introduced in snapshot 14w17a for Java Edition 1.8, and was removed in snapshot 18w06a for Java Edition 1.13.

Beast Boy, Black Steve, Steve, and Rana
Beast Boy, Black Steve, Steve, and Rana were human mobs originally [ used] as a test during the Indev phase. They were made by Dock, Minecraft's past artist, and were removed from the game when Dock left the development team in early 2010. These mobs had no animation and glided around in the same pose. Upon death, Beast Boy, Black Steve, and Steve could drop 0–2 feathers, 0–2 sulphur (this item was renamed to "Gunpowder" in Java Edition Beta 1.3) and 0–2 string respectively. Ranas did not drop anything as they were removed when crafting was added. Beast Boy, Black Steve and Steve each had HP while Rana had  HP. Beast Boy is a DC superhero and member of the Teen Titans, and Rana is an original character of Dock. "Rana" means frog in Spanish. When hurt, these mobs made the player's hurt noise. Rana was never in any of the same versions as Beast Boy, Black Steve, or Steve. They were simply human mobs with the MD3 models as their entity id was Mob.

Human


Humans were passive mobs who took the form of clones of the default skin. In Classic, humans could be spawned by pressing and would run around aimlessly. From Classic 0.24_SURVIVAL_TEST and onwards, there was another mob called "Monster" which looked like a human but would attack the player. This "Monster" was the result of trying to spawn the base class for hostile mobs as an actual mob, a similar situation would later occur for humans too. The entity IDs, for humans, and  , for "Monster", existed until Java Edition 1.11, in which entity IDs were converted to namespaced IDs.

Zombie drops
Prior to Java Edition Beta 1.8, zombies dropped 0-2 feathers, which were replaced by 0-2 rotten flesh.

Zombie pigman drops
Prior to Java Edition Beta 1.8, zombie pigmen dropped 0-2 cooked porkchops, which were replaced by 0-1 rotten flesh and 0-1 gold nuggets.

Audio loops
Loops were unused sounds, found in the game files, and were possibly meant for when the player is in a specific type of location (i.e., in caves, forests, the ocean and beside a waterfall).

They were found in, and could be converted to reveal four loops, of birds chirping, cave chimes, ocean and waterfall noises.

Unused
These features never had any functionality in-game.

Cog
On January 25, 2010, Notch posted a [ video] of gears being placed onto the wall of a cliff.

In Indev on January 25, 2010, the code for gears was added. It could only be obtained by inventory editing and was invisible in the inventory. When edited into the game, gears could only be placed on the side of a block, placing them in a space where two sides are next to each other would cause two gears to appear on both sides. Placed gears 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 still remained, but oddly, it was invisible. The gear still existed on the map and would show up again if a solid block was placed next to them. The same happened when a map editor was used to place gear in mid-air. Gears could only be removed by letting water flow into them. A gear'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.

It was available as data value 55, prior to being replaced with redstone in Java Edition Alpha v1.0.1.

Chairs and other furniture
In Indev's  were two textures which might be interpreted as a chair (side and front). The actual purpose of these textures is unknown. The second texture could also be interpreted as the side view of a table. On Notch's blog, The Word of Notch, furniture, and more specifically chairs, are mentioned a few times.

Green shrub
While looking at one of the chests in Java Edition Beta 1.6 Test Build 3, a weird-looking green textured shrub could be seen. It is unknown what this was used for. It most likely resulted from the game attempting to apply biome coloring to the dead bush texture since, at the time, it was used for tall grass with data value 0. This was scrapped for unknown reasons. It was last seen in Java Edition 1.7.

Paeonia
Paeonias were an unimplemented block that was replaced by the two-block-high peonies.

There was only one screenshot of the block released by Jeb. When held in hand, its height was level to the player's shoulder. The texture for this block,, could still be found until it was removed in snapshot 17w47a for Java Edition 1.13.

Armor in Survival Test
In early versions from 0.24_SURVIVAL_TEST through Indev 20100207-2, there was a folder called "armor", which contained two files. One was called ; and the other was called. These files were removed in Indev 20100212-1 with the addition of normal armor models.



Plate armor
Plate armor was used in Survival Test for mobs and it gave them no additional defense.



Chain armor
Unlike plate armor, chain armor was impossible to see in-game. It was just an unused texture. It was later removed and replaced with a new model and texture with leggings and boots.

Potions
Java Edition Beta 1.9 Prerelease 2 implemented 32 types of potions for a complex brewing system involving cauldrons, which were functional but unavailable. These potions had effects and appeared to have different colors than the current potions. Java Edition Beta 1.9 Prerelease 3 replaced the cauldron brewing system with the brewing stand system used in the final game, and removed the effects and colors of the old potions. Only the mundane, awkward, and thick potions were used in the final brewing system, leaving 29 types of potions with no effect unused in the game. They were later removed in snapshot 15w44b for Java Edition 1.9.

These potions could only be obtained by using the following command: {{cmd|give @p minecraft:potion 1  was added in Java Edition 1.4.6 (around Christmas and New Year). Its texture was added by Dinnerbone as a red herring. The texture was removed in Java Edition 1.6.1.

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 on April 25, 2011 that he might add pigmen as villages' townspeople, although in the Java Edition Beta 1.9 pre-releases, a different villager mob was introduced. In Java Edition 1.6.2, the texture was removed.

The Pigman saw its reincarnation in other pigman-themed mobs, including piglins and zombie pigmen, both found in the Nether. Pigmen will soon be replaced by Piglins.

"Play Tutorial Level" button
An unclickable "Play Tutorial Level" button was added to the main menu during Indev. With the addition of texture packs in Java Edition Alpha 1.2.2, the button was removed. No tutorial level had actually existed during that time.

Brick block variations


At some point in Classic, there were four similar brick block textures added with slight differences, hinting it might have been planned to add variations in textures.

Mirrored door textures


In Infdev's, two door textures could be found that looked exactly the same except the hinges and the handle were mirrored. In current Minecraft only one of the textures is used and is flipped when the hinges and handle are on the other side. The alternate door was overwritten with the iron door texture in Java Edition Alpha v1.0.1.

Door entity


In the Infdev "item" folder (where signs, arrows, and minecarts could be found at the time), a file named  could also be found. It was most likely going to be used for the door animation Notch had been wanting to add. The texture was removed in Java Edition 1.6.1.

Fluff.png


In Infdev, a texture called  was added. It was used as a texture for clouds in Infdev, but was later removed in early Alpha.

Footstep particle


The footstep particle was introduced, but never used in-game. It was removed in snapshot 17w47a, as part of The Flattening.

Steve villager hybrid


After villagers were added, a strange file could be found in the mobs folder (outside of the villager folder) called. It appeared to be some sort of Steve villager hybrid. The file was removed in Java Edition 1.5 during the texture pack reform. It did not match the villager model. If used for the villager model in a resource pack, it would look glitched.

Char.png


can be found in Classic 0.27 SURVIVAL TEST's texture files. Steve's hair is on the second layer rather than the first. This was possibly a failed hair test.

Char_2.png


can be found in Indev 20100212-1's texture files. This was possibly another failed attempt at testing skins. There are two gold pixels on the top right of Steve's head and two layers of hair.

waterterrain.png


In Infdev, a file similar to, referred to as  , could be found. It appeared to be some sort of arrow system, and it is possible this was used to test water animation.

chunkinfo command
From Java Edition 1.8 (snapshot 14w30a) to Java Edition 1.13 (snapshot 17w45a), the file  contained translation strings for a   command, which never existed in game. The following keys existed:

commands.chunkinfo.usage=/chunkinfo [  ] commands.chunkinfo.location=Chunk location: (%s, %s, %s) commands.chunkinfo.noChunk=No chunk found at chunk position %s, %s, %s commands.chunkinfo.notEmpty=Chunk is not empty. commands.chunkinfo.empty=Chunk is empty. commands.chunkinfo.notCompiled=Chunk is not compiled. commands.chunkinfo.compiled=Chunk is compiled. commands.chunkinfo.hasNoRenderableLayers=Chunk has no renderable layers. commands.chunkinfo.hasLayers=Chunk has layers: %s commands.chunkinfo.isEmpty=Chunk has empty layers: %s commands.chunkinfo.vertices=%s layer's buffer contains %s vertices commands.chunkinfo.data=First 64 vertices are: %s

It is unknown if this command was used by Mojang for development or was simply a dropped feature.

Placeholder fire texture
Placeholder graphics for the fire texture were found in, which was overwritten in VRAM with the true fire texture. The text read "FIRE TEX! HNST", which means "Fire texture! Honest!". It was replaced by the actual fire animation in Java Edition 1.5.

Old lava and water textures
The old lava and water textures from Alpha could be found in. The textures were replaced by different lava and water animations in Java Edition 1.5.

Village border texture
A texture previously used by Mojang to mark the borders of villages could be found in. The texture was removed in Java Edition 1.5.

Duplicate cake texture
A duplicate cake texture could be found in. The duplicate texture was removed in Java Edition 1.5.

Other snow texture?
An unknown texture, though it could be related to the snow weather effect, could be found. The texture was removed in Java Edition 1.5.

Wax block texture


A texture for a wax block was added to the game files in 19w34a, but it was removed in 19w42a.

Crystallized honey texture


A texture for a crystallized honey item was added to the game files in 19w34a, but it was removed in 19w42a.

calm4.ogg


was a music file (alongside the other tracks) that was beta-tested and created by Notch himself. The song is 3 minutes and 13 seconds long. It consists of an upbeat synth, battle-like tune. At 1:03 and 1:36, Notch can be heard saying "Mojang Specifications" in slow-motion.

The track was released around Java Edition Alpha v1.1.1, but in Java Edition Alpha v1.1.2, this track was omitted from the downloaded game files. Players who had the game while the song file was still included will continue to hear it being played, as the game will play any song in the  folder.

With the introduction of the Java Edition 1.6.1 launcher, playing older versions with the track  will not allow the track to be heard, since music is downloaded separately from the .jar files.

On February 1, 2020,  was reuploaded by Notch on his soundcloud page with the name "Magnetic Circuit".

Player stats


In an early Indev version, the player could open the inventory screen and view their name and three stats: "ATK", "DEF", and "SPD". These only existed briefly; when asked, Notch stated he could not remember exactly why they were implemented and subsequently removed, and he assumed they were placeholders for "vague plans".

Inventory changes
An inventory rewrite was originally partially implemented in snapshot 14w07a, but it was reverted before the release of Java Edition 1.8.

Old player death animation
Before Java Edition 1.6.1, on player death, the player would stay standing, leap a little bit, and then disappear. In Java Edition 1.6.1, this was replaced with the player falling and then disappearing.

Notch dropping an apple
Before Java Edition Beta 1.8, a player named Notch would drop an apple upon death.

On-screen version number


Starting with Classic 0.0.2a, all subsequent versions until RC2 had text displayed in the top left corner of the screen which told what version the player was on. Versions between Java Edition Beta 1.6.4 and Java Edition Beta 1.7.3 did not have this text. From Classic 0.0.2a to Indev 0.31 20100205, only the version number was displayed, but after Indev it switched from being "0.31" to being called "Minecraft Indev" (Indev 20100206), the word "Minecraft" was shown before the version number. In the Alpha development stage, the text read "Minecraft Alpha v#.#.#(_#)." In the Beta development stage, the text read "Minecraft Beta #.#(_#)." This feature was only partially removed, for, among other things, the version number can now be shown by opening the debug screen while in-game. Before Java Edition Alpha v1.2.2, the version number did not display on the main menu screen.

"Unlicensed Copy" message


In the Beta stage of Minecraft's development, a message reading "Minecraft Beta #.#.#(_0#) Unlicensed Copy :( (Or logged in from another location). Purchase at minecraft.net" was shown. This message can only be seen in versions between Java Edition Beta 1.6 Test Build 3 and Java Edition Beta 1.7.3, as proven by a bytecode editor. The bytecode for the message was removed in Java Edition Beta 1.8.

Spawning nether portals with
In Java Edition Alpha v1.2.2a, players had the ability to spawn nether portals by pressing. In Java Edition Alpha v1.2.2b, spawning nether portals using was removed.

Time control with and
In Java Edition Beta 1.8 Pre-release, as a result of remaining debug code, players had the ability to use and  to control in-game time. In Java Edition Beta 1.8 Pre-release 2 ;), the functionality of and  was removed.

Achievements
Achievements were available between Java Edition Beta 1.5 and Java Edition 1.12 (snapshot 17w06a). They were ultimately replaced by advancements, though editions other than the Java Edition still have achievements instead.

"Player Activity" button
The "Player Activity" button in "Minecraft Realms" was added in Java Edition 1.5, but it was removed in Java Edition 1.14.4 for unknown reasons. This button was used to show the online activities of players.

Texture pack
Texture packs were added in Java Edition Alpha v1.2.2, and were replaced with resource packs in snapshot 13w24a for Java Edition 1.6.1.

"3D Anaglyph" option


"3D Anaglyph" is an option in video settings that applies a red-cyan stereoscopic effect, enabling the use of red-cyan 3D glasses to experience the game in more depth. This option was removed in snapshot 17w43a for Java Edition 1.13 for unknown reasons.

Void fog


In Java Edition Beta 1.8, black void fog and the  particle effect were introduced. As the player descended below Y=17 in the Overworld, the void fog and particles would start to appear. As the player traveled deeper, the fog at the edge of the render distance would become closer until the player reached bedrock, where visibility was reduced to just a few blocks, beyond which was complete darkness. The gray void particles appeared below Y=17, as well as in the void.

The void fog was removed in snapshot 14w34c, the main reason being to improve performance. The  particle effect was also removed from the void, but stayed in the game until snapshot 17w47a when it was removed as part of The Flattening.

Dispensing command blocks
From snapshot 14w07a for Java Edition 1.8, dispensers had the ability to place command blocks, when activated. This feature was removed as of Java Edition 1.8.6 to solve a security issue.

Mobs running from creepers
In Java Edition 1.8, mobs ran away from creepers that were about to explode. In Java Edition 1.8.1-pre1, this feature was removed because every mob that had the ability to run from a creeper was looking for an exploding creeper every tick, degrading performance.

Water evaporating on magma blocks
In snapshot 16w20a for Java Edition 1.10, water evaporated on top of magma blocks when randomly ticked. From snapshot 18w07a for Java Edition 1.13, whirlpool bubble columns are produced on top of magma blocks instead.

Full hotbar
Before Java Edition 1.4.2, starting a world in Creative mode always started the player with a full hotbar, which included oak saplings, bricks, oak planks, spruce planks, cobblestone, and dirt.

Splashes
Note: When a line of splash text is removed, the line it occupied in  is deleted, meaning the line number of all subsequent splashes lowers by one.

"Super Secret Settings" button
The "Super Secret Settings", added in snapshot 13w38a for Java Edition 1.7.2, were removed in snapshot 15w31a for Java Edition 1.9 due to an internal rewrite. It was a button under the options menu that, when pressed, would blare a random game sound with a lower pitch, and activate a shader.

Native Twitch.tv integration
Native Twitch.tv integration was added in snapshot 13w47a for Java Edition 1.7.4, and was removed in snapshot 15w31a for Java Edition 1.9. It integrated Twitch chat into the game.

entity.hanging.place and entity.hanging.pop
and  were two sound effects added in snapshot 15w49a and removed in the next snapshot, 15w49b. The sound effects were blank audio files and were likely intended as sound effects for the lead.

Old conduit particle


The conduit was added in snapshot 18w15a with particles, but those particles were changed in the next snapshot, 18w16a.

/locate New_Village
There was a locate command called. This was implemented in snapshot 18w48a for Village & Pillage before the village structures from Update Aquatic and prior were removed. Once these "old" villages were officially taken from the game's structure spawn list in snapshot 19w02a, was replaced by  as the   ID was no longer needed.

Start with 64 fences
In Java Edition Alpha v1.0.17, the player would spawn with 64 fences in their inventory, but in Java Edition Alpha v1.0.17_01 this feature was removed.

First-person view pivot
Removed in Java Edition 1.14.4 for performance reasons.

Placeholder block drops
Survival Test introduced block drops which were mapped as follows:

Block drops were reworked in Indev.

Minimized textures
In Survival Test, item drops were restricted to the cube shape used for blocks. The projected texture was the same on all faces and the texture scale was closer to those of blocks, making it look cropped.

Tags
The  and   tags were added in snapshots 18w07a and 18w07b for Java Edition 1.13 respectively and removed in 18w10c. Before the removal, these tags functioned as follows:

Java launcher easter eggs
Prior to the release of Launcher 2.1.497x for Java Edition, the launcher contained multiple easter eggs. If the player hovered their cursor over the "Play" button for a few seconds, a random mob would appear in the bottom right corner of the launcher. In the top left corner of the launcher, the player could see a translucent creeper face. There was about a 1⁄11 chance of the creeper face being replaced with a shrugging kaomoji, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. When the player clicked on either of these, they turned solid white. Clicking them again would return them to their translucent state. In addition, if the player pressed +, the experience orb pickup sound would play.

Old walking animation for players
From pre-Classic to Java Edition Alpha v1.0.9, the walking animation for the player and the human mob was different; the player and the human mob would swing their arms wildly to their sides while walking.

Old walking animation for mobs
In Survival Test, mobs (pigs, sheep, skeletons, zombies, spiders and creepers) had different walking animations.

Creeper melee attack
In Survival Test, creepers did melee damage to the player. In Indev 0.31, this feature was removed. The damage was 4.

Potted cobweb
In 13w36a was possible to plant cobweb to flower pot, in 14w17a this feature was removed.