Legacy Console Edition

Legacy Console Edition refers collectively to several nearly identical editions of Minecraft developed by 4J Studios for game consoles. It comprises of:
 * Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition
 * Minecraft: Xbox One Edition
 * Minecraft: PlayStation 3 Edition
 * Minecraft: PlayStation 4 Edition
 * Minecraft: PlayStation Vita Edition
 * Minecraft: Wii U Edition
 * Minecraft: Nintendo Switch Edition

Legacy Console Edition introduced new features such as a simplified crafting system, in-game tutorials, leaderboards, built-in mini games and split-screen multiplayer (excluding PlayStation Vita Edition), as well as online multiplayer for up to sixteen players, which required a PlayStation Plus membership (PS4), Xbox Live Gold membership, Nintendo Network ID (Wii U), or a Nintendo Switch Online membership. As with all editions, updates were free of charge.

Previously, the simpler term "Console Edition" was used to refer to these editions on this wiki, but with the release of the Better Together Update, three of the platforms received an implementation of Bedrock Edition as well. Since it no longer comprised all implementations for all consoles, the term was amended.

On September 20, 2017, the Xbox One Edition was withdrawn from the Microsoft Store, in conjunction with 's Better Together Update. People who owned it were entitled to download the Bedrock Edition of Minecraft for free. Worlds and DLC were intended to be transferable to Bedrock Edition, however some DLC does not carry over. Users can also continue to play on the Xbox One Edition instead. This also happened with the Nintendo Switch Edition on June 21, 2018, and PlayStation 4 Edition on December 10, 2019. Again, some DLC does not transfer on these platforms.

Initially, Xbox One Edition was planned to no longer receive updates, starting with the lack of an equivalent update to TU58, but the edition later received CU50, an update adding the MINECON Earth Skin Pack, and later updates resumed entirely with CU51, an update equivalent to TU60, which also added all the features from TU58.

On May 3, 2018, Mojang officially announced that the Xbox 360 Edition, PlayStation 3 Edition, PlayStation Vita Edition, and Wii U Edition would receive the Update Aquatic, but would receive no further feature updates after its release. The Xbox One Edition and Nintendo Switch Edition were excluded from Update Aquatic. The PlayStation 4 Edition would still receive feature updates until December 10, 2019 (including Update Aquatic and Village & Pillage), when it was replaced with Bedrock Edition on the platform, at which point the Legacy Console Edition codebase was discontinued entirely. Despite being discontinued, Xbox One Edition and PlayStation 4 Edition are playable on the and  respectively via backwards compatibility.

Although worlds can still be transferred from Xbox 360 Edition and Wii U Edition to Xbox One Edition and Nintendo Switch Edition respectively, the worlds currently cannot be loaded on the latter consoles due to the Xbox 360 Edition and Wii U Edition using a newer version of the game. As of April 15, 2020, the ability to transfer worlds from PlayStation 3 Edition and PlayStation Vita Edition to PlayStation 4 Edition has been terminated.

Gameplay
The objective of the game remains the same as its counterparts, where players can build virtual realities in a sandbox-like environment. There is no preset goal; the player may choose to set their own goals.

For the most part, Legacy Console Edition is almost identical to Java Edition with few apparent differences, but was released with the Xbox 360 Edition in an earlier version equivalent to Java Edition Beta 1.6.6, rather than the current Java Edition version at the time of release, 1.2.5. The Wii U Edition was released with an earlier version equivalent to Java Edition 1.6.4, rather than the current Java Edition version at the time of release, 1.8.9. Legacy console also slowly became more like bedrock (like movable tile entities being implemented) to prepare for legacy console being taken off the market.

Differences from Java and Bedrock Edition
Differences from include:


 * The game features splitscreen functionality, a HDTV with a Component or HDMI cable is required for split-screen play. Split-screen functionality works with a VGA connection to a PC monitor as well as HDMI-to-DVI cables to a PC monitor. Up to 4 players can play in split screen, as well as the possibility to play 8-person online multiplayer game modes in split-screen. Nintendo Switch Edition also supports splitscreen on the console's own screen, as well as local wireless communications. PlayStation Vita Edition only supports up to 2-4 players online and Ad-Hoc support. This was carried over to bedrock on those platforms meaning that this is the only difference that remained when the console editions were discontinued and replaced with bedrock.
 * The game includes an automatic crafting system where it is not required to place the blocks in the grid. There is an option to use the manual crafting grid from Java Edition, as well as Bedrock Edition.
 * Legacy Console Edition includes a version-exclusive tutorial mode. This tutorial leads the player through the basics of digging and placing blocks, crafting, as well as building their first house to survive the night, fishing, enchanting, brewing, and more.
 * The player always begins a new world with an empty map.
 * On the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita and Wii U platforms, the world size is limited to 864×864 blocks. Because the outer-most block is unusable on each side of the map, it is effectively 862×862 blocks that can be used. The worlds on the Nintendo Switch edition can be up to 3072×3072, whereas the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 worlds can be up to 5120×5120.
 * The Nether is limited in size and, as a consequence, the Overworld-Nether ratio is 1:3 (1:6 in Nintendo Switch Edition) compared to 1:8 in Java Edition. In the PS4 and Xbox One editions, the Overworld-Nether ratio depends on world size. It is 1:3 for both Classic and Small worlds, 1:6 for Medium worlds, and 1:8 for Large worlds. The Nether is limited to about 288×288 for the PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii U editions, and to about 512x512 for the Nintendo Switch. The End also uses the aforementioned sizes. On the Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii U editions, only one outer End island can generate, and will always have an End City with a ship. This means that only one elytra per world is obtainable in survival mode. Also, the only method of travel between the main island and the outer island is via the End gateway due to invisible barriers preventing the player from bridging or flying there.
 * Players can choose from three different biome scale options when generating a world.
 * Skins can only be chosen from those available as default or from downloadable content.
 * Breeding and utility mob spawning works the same as Java Edition with the exception of limiting tamed wolf and snow golem populations to 16. If the player attempts to tame or breed a 17th wolf, it will be killed by other wolves, and if a player attempts to build a 17th snow golem, upon placing the pumpkin all three blocks will break, dropping one pumpkin and eight snowballs. Also, wolf pups are born with full health and reach adulthood without player input.
 * The edge of the world cannot be mined and is completely sea. The edge of the map is a strip of water surrounding the map followed by an invisible barrier. This can cause problems as sometimes chests in mineshafts generate at the edge of the map where they are inaccessible. To solve this problem, the player can make and place a new chest next to said chest and use the accessible half of the resulting large chest to open it, making the previously inaccessible items available.
 * When flying, the player is restricted to 8-way digital directional movement, meaning that they cannot drift in a full circle. This was done to increase precision when building with a controller.
 * When building a portal to the Nether in a superflat world, the Nether will also be flat.
 * Nether wart randomly generates on soul sand in the Nether.
 * The edge of the Nether is a bedrock wall.
 * There are no public Servers. The player's world may be hosted, similar to a server, by enabling the option Allow Friends of Friends to join, however there is a limit of 8 players in an online game.
 * PlayStation Vita Edition and Nintendo Switch Edition have local multiplayer support between multiple consoles.
 * Statistics are replaced with leaderboards, with the exception of Wii U and Nintendo Switch Edition.
 * A large amount of TNT cannon designs do not work, as the amount of lit TNT entities that can exist on a world is very small.
 * A large amount of TNT cannon designs do not work, as the amount of lit TNT entities that can exist on a world is very small.

Different modes
The different gameplay modes and settings may vary from the other platform versions, such as hardcore mode, as it is currently one of many Java Edition exclusive features.

Creative
Using Creative mode permanently disables achievements/trophies and leaderboard updates during normal gameplay on that world, however the core mechanics of flight and infinite resources remain the same.

Adventure
Blocks can be destroyed by the proper tools and depending on the block, the quality of the tool. Example: blocks can be destroyed by using. While only  and higher can break and gather  blocks.

Survival
In Survival mode:


 * Fists and any tool can break blocks such as.
 * The quality of the tool affects the breaking speed of the block.
 * Progression of the game is similar to other versions of the game, however in the End dimension to travel to other islands you must teleport as there exist invisible walls outside the area.

X/Z distance effects
At the edges of the world, which varies depending on the console, there exists an invisible barrier that cannot be bypassed. Below sea level, the barrier is comprised of gravel.

Trivia

 * 4J Studios, the company that ported Minecraft to consoles, also ported several other video games, namely ', ', and ' for XBLA as well as ' for PS3.
 * Notch originally stated that the would be the sole console provider of Minecraft. However, Sony later announced editions for the, , and .  Mojang also later released the Xbox One, Wii U, and Nintendo Switch editions.
 * In Creative, entering the Void is not possible (except in the End, where it is easily accessible due to the large gaps between the islands), as the lowest level of bedrock will remain indestructible in that mode.
 * The player can grab edge blocks with sticky pistons. However, it's impossible to push blocks into the edge.
 * Spiders can climb the edge of the world, as it's classified as a block.
 * The player cannot fly to the top. While it is only 2,147,483,647 blocks tall, the world height is only 511 blocks tall, so the player cannot go anywhere near the top. Despite this, using enough TNT Minecarts to launch a player in Creative Mode can sometimes make the player break the game and end up above the 511 block height limit, but they are unable to fly back down or move in this state, forcing the player to kill themselves or exit the game.
 * The Wither performs its charge attack much more often than its Bedrock Edition counterpart.
 * Due to the limited world size, the Woodland Mansion is much easier to find, provided that there are dark forest biomes. Sometimes the game can spawn you right next to one. This is incredibly common to see in the classic world type, given if that option is selected the game tries to find a seed with at least 1 of most structures in its given area.