Java Edition removed features

Since the beginning of the development of Minecraft: 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 in snapshot 13w16a during the development of Java Edition 1.6.1, along with horses. Horse saddles 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:

The item ID used was 416, which later referred to the armor stand in versions up until 1.13.

Horse saddles could stack up to 32.

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

Infinite water source
The Infinite Water Source was a block that would create infinite water, which would replicate infinitely to fill up volumes. Mojang removed this because of problems and glitches when they were placed next to each other. They were added originally in Indev 0.31 (January 24, 2010) to allow for infinite lakes on floating maps. Also, it acted like water in Classic.

It was available as block ID 52, prior to being replaced with the spawner in Infdev (June 25, 2010, 2).

Infinite lava source
Similar to the infinite water source, the Infinite Lava Source was a block that created infinite lava which would replicate infinitely to fill up volumes. It was also added in Indev 0.31 (January 24, 2010).

It was available as block ID 53, prior to being replaced with oak stairs in Infdev (June 29, 2010).

Locked chest


Locked chests were an April Fools block added in Beta 1.4. They would spawn rarely and emit a light level of 15. Pressing on the chest would bring up a screen, and clicking on the "Go to Store" button would forward the player to the "Minecraft Store". They were subsequently removed from normal gameplay in 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 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 names  and , and numeric IDs 149 and 150 respectively. As of 13w05a, the  block was removed from use in the game, replaced by a powered block state on the   block. It is removed completely in the 1.13 snapshot 17w47a, as of The Flattening.

Reverted potions
Before the Java Edition 1.9 snapshot 15w31a, potions had a form known as "reverted". In the inventory, reverted potions looked identical to their base potion, much like mundane and mundane (extended), 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 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 (typically) to an already upgraded tertiary potion. Since these tertiary potions have already been modified with redstone (typically), they could be changed to their original (revert) unmodified states depending on which modifier was added previously. Not all potions could be reverted (or react, for that matter) when glowstone powder or redstone dust was added to an upgraded tertiary potion (for example, adding redstone to an already redstone-extended potion did not yield a new potion).
 * The second method involved the addition of fermented spider eyes, followed by glowstone (usually). Method two worked by adding 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 (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, the addition of glowstone would revert the potion to a potion of lesser duration.

A good example of this process at work is the reversion of the potion of weakness. A potion of weakness can be made two ways. The first method is by adding fermented spider eye to a mundane potion (water bottle + ghast tear/glistering melon/blaze powder/magma cream/sugar/spider eye), then adding redstone to produce potion of weakness (extended). The second method is by adding (again) 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 potion of strength (extended) to produce potion of weakness (extended)).

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

Rose


The rose was removed from the Java Edition in 1.7.2 snapshot 13w36a. In 1.7.2, the rose was simply replaced by the poppy as a wild flower which had the same function: crafting red dye.

Blocks previously obtainable as items
for a full list of unobtainable blocks

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 release versions 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 developed so that these blocks became entirely unavailable, even through editing.

Currently, the game only accepts name IDs (such as ) in most commands, and uses only name 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 name IDs from the inventory, so using inventory editors is also no longer an option. Furthermore, certain blocks such as  cannot be obtained in their block form; 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, the command was modified so that it would notify the name of the item in chat. Due to this, 26 blocks were made unavailable:

Air block
The air block was briefly available as an item during Java Edition 1.7.2 snapshot 13w38b, while Grum had been redefining 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 mobs drop air upon death.

Obtainable until Java Edition 1.8
In snapshot 14w25a, 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, 1 block was made unavailable:

Chain armor
Since shortly after their introduction in Indev, and until snapshot 14w25a for release Java Edition 1.8, chain 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.

Chain 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 release Java Edition 1.9, enchanted golden apples had a crafting recipe: an apple surrounded by 8 gold blocks.

Enchanted golden apples may still be obtained in other ways.

Horse Armor
In the 13w16a snapshot of Java Edition 1.6.1 a crafting recipe for horse armor was added. In snapshot 13w18a, the crafting recipe was removed.

Leather horse armor was added to the Bedrock Edition just over three years later, and had a still usable but different crafting recipe.

Horse armor may still be obtained in other ways.

Brick pyramid
Brick pyramids were large and extremely rare structures that generated randomly in Infdev worlds in Infdev (February 27, 2010) onwards. These pyramids were completely solid; they had no interior rooms. These pyramids generated directly on top of the terrain instead of being a complete pyramid with the bottom underground (such as desert temples). Caves are also capable of generating inside these (only in Infdev (March 25, 2010). Brick pyramids were removed in Infdev (March 27, 2010).

Indev House


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

When the player started a world in the original Indev version, the house would spawn in as a planks house.

When the player started a world in version Indev 0.31 (January 24, 2010) to the beginning of Indev, a mossy cobblestone house with torches would spawn in and the player would have flint and steel in their hotbar.

These two houses had the floor made out of stone.

Obsidian wall


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, as it was only found in Infdev (February 27, 2010).

Far Lands


The Far Lands was the area that formed the "edge" of the "infinite" map in Java Edition versions prior to Beta 1.8. They initiate differently depending on the game's version. In Infdev (February 27, 2010), 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 we had till Beta 1.7.3 began at about 12,550,820 blocks from the center of the world (0; 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 to the gameplay, including floating-point precision errors and huge framerate/tickrate drops due to excessive coordinates, and the farther from the world center, 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 Beta 1.7.3 (and probably as far back as Alpha v1.2.0), there existed another set of Far Lands called the Farther Lands, which was found very recently after the discovery of the Far Lands, and generate approximately 1,004,065,600 blocks away from the world center. This set combines with the previous Far Lands to create an even more strange mixture. In this set of Far Lands, the terrain is very smooth and hardly changes its shape. This is especially noticeable in the Corner Farther Lands.

The Far Lands were removed in Beta 1.8.

Monoliths
These were glitched areas of terrain circa Alpha v1.1 which resembled chunk errors, with the terrain abruptly kicking up to the height limit, with natural grass and ore generation. Below the monoliths was completely hollow except for the water generating at the sea level and a layer of bedrock at the bottom, making the normal terrain seem like inverse monoliths. On very large ones, it is very possible to find small crevices where normal terrain has generated within. They tend to generate around flatish terrain. They were caused by an error in the Perlin Noise generator.

By setting Biome Scale Weight to negative values in customized worlds, they can generate in versions 1.8 snapshot 14w17a through 1.13 snapshot 18w05a, but with the removal of the Customized functionality altogether in 1.13 snapshot 18w06a, this can no longer be recreated.

These can theoretically generate infinitely upwards (i.e. up to the Far Sky).

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 the fact that new log and leaves types 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 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 Beta 1.9 Prerelease 4, due to the addition of the eye of ender.

Isometric screenshot
In the Indev versions of the game, you can take a screenshot of the map from an Isometric perspective using F7. When the game captures an isometric image it will save the current location of all mobs and show any and all alterations to the map the player has made that would be visible from the perspective of the sun (at sunrise). The player will not be visible unless the player was in third person view before taking the Isometric screenshot.

The Isometric screenshot will save to your local user folder as "mc_map_####.png" where #### represent the number of the screen shot starting at 0000 up to 9999.

There are some limitations that existed with the screenshots:
 * Can only capture the player's sprite when in 3rd person mode.
 * Due to a glitch the screenshot will only render blocks that are in the player's FOV, and everything else will either be black or show blocks under the ground.

Indev map shape
The map shape is the general dimensions the level generator uses to create maps. Added in Indev 0.31, it alters the length, width, and height of the map. There are three kinds of shapes:


 * Square is a map of equal length, width and height.
 * Long is 2x the length and 1/2 the width of a normal map.
 * Deep is 4x height and 1/2 the width and length of a normal map.

A small, square map is 128x128 blocks wide, a normal square map is 256x256 blocks wide, and a huge square map is 512x512 blocks. All square and long maps are 64 blocks tall.

Indev map 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.

Normal
The default map theme. Overground, one will find sporadic Trees and generally favourable space. The weather is constantly partly cloudy, and the lengths of night and day are equal. Underground, ores of all types can be found and Lava is generally found near the Bedrock.

Boundary Liquid: Water.

Hell
The second map theme introduced with the Theme feature. Hell features significantly less lighting during the day, where Mobs of all types will spawn at any time. All Water is replaced with Lava, Grass is replaced with dirt and Grass is only spawned instead of sand during map generation. Mushrooms are abundant on the surface. Farming works at a much slower rate (one plant stage per day cycle). This is comparable to The Nether.

Boundary Liquid: Lava.

Paradise
The third map theme is more relaxed than the other Themes. It features 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 is a middle-ground of challenge between Normal and Hell, providing constant overcast during the day that reduces light, and tree density is at a higher rate than the other themes, resulting the land space becoming smaller. Additionally, Mushrooms are spotty throughout the overground areas.

Boundary Liquid: Water.

Indev map type
The map type is the general format the level generator used to create maps. Added in 0.31, it dramatically affected Indev mode in the availability of water, sand, and gravel. The further the player travelled towards the end of the map, the slower they moved. There were four map types:


 * Island is the default map type featuring minor hills and water existing at the borders.
 * Floating contains multiple floating islands. Falling from these islands results in death as the surface is covered in bedrock. Floating gravel and sand is common, while water is rare.
 * Flat is similar to superflat today - it features flat grass with flowers, trees and a starting house.
 * Inland features a slightly hilly landscape, which is essentially the Island map type with infinite flatland at its borders as opposed to water. Sand and gravel are common.

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, although not a true biome as it made the entire world snowy. It was removed in the Halloween Update.


 * Differences between Winter Mode and the normal map type

One of the differences was 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 solid.

The second element unique to the Winter Mode was ice. When a map was generated, all exposed water blocks would be frozen into ice.

Also, animals would not spawn as much as in the normal world.

Biomes prior to 1.7.2
Before 1.7.2, many biomes existed which some of them got removed.

Biomes that got removed in 1.7.2:
 * Mountain Edge
 * Frozen Ocean (readded in Java Edition 1.13)

Pre-Beta 1.8 biomes
In Beta 1.8, biomes received a major overhaul, removing and changing many biomes. Prior to these changes, there were 13 biome types which were much smaller and less distinct.

Gravel path
Before Java Edition 1.10, villages used gravel paths as roads; however this was changed and grass paths were added as village roads instead.

Savanna Village
Prior to 1.10, villages that would generate in savanna biomes used oak wood, oak planks, oak fences and oak stairs, but this village was later replaced with the acacia village.

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 [ in-game] 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, all of them except Rana could drop 0–2, 0–2 s, 0–2 (this item has since been renamed "gunpowder") and 0–1. Beast Boy, Black Steve, and Steve had HP. 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 Latin. When hurt, these mobs make the player's hurt noise. Rana is never in any of the same versions as Beast Boy, Black Steve, or Steve.

Human


Humans were hostile mobs with the default skin. In early versions Classic, humans could be spawned by pressing key. They did not have a punching animation like the player; they only ran into the player like a zombie would.

In Classic, humans would just move around the map aimlessly, walking in slightly imperfect circles, flailing their arms and heads, and jumping occasionally. They could not move or destroy blocks, and were not affected by liquids. Mobs pursued player and applied him 1 unit of damage. Changing a player's skin would not change the skin of the human mob.

In Beta 1.8, humans were removed. In Java Edition 1.11, the savegame IDs  and   for humans were also removed.

Zombie drops
Prior to Beta 1.8, zombies dropped feathers. However, this drop was later removed; currently, feathers are not dropped by zombies, and are replaced by rotten flesh.

Zombie Pigman drops
Prior to Beta 1.8, zombie pigmen dropped cooked porkchops. However, this drop was later removed; currently, cooked porkchops are not dropped by zombie pigmen, and were replaced by rotten flesh and gold nuggets.

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 25, 2010, the code for cogs (originally named Gear) was added. It could only get obtained by inventory hacking and was invisible in the inventory, at some point an animation was added to the item when 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 a cog to appear on each of both sides. Placed cogs were impossible to destroy; any mining directed at a cog phased through to the block behind it, much like water. If the block a cog was on was destroyed, the cog was not removed, but oddly, was invisible. The cog still existed in the map and would show up again if the 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. Cogs do not show up on non-solid blocks. 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.

They had a data value of 55, which was replaced by redstone in Alpha v1.0.1.

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 was added in Beta 1.3.

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."

Chairs and other furniture


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 Notch's blog, The Word of Notch, furniture, and more specifically chairs, are mentioned a few times.

Grass Shrub
While looking at one of the chests in the Beta 1.6 Test Build 3 version, a weird looking green textured dead shrub can 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 sprite since the dead bush sprite, at the time, was used for tall grass with a data value of 0. This was scrapped for unknown reasons. It is last seen in release Java Edition 1.7-pre.

Paeonia


Paeonias are an unimplemented block that was replaced by the two block high peonies.

There was only one screenshot of the block released by Jeb. Its texture can still be found called flower_paeonia.png, but it was later removed in the 17w47a snapshot for Java Edition 1.13.

Plate.png


In numerous versions such as 0.30, there was a folder called "armor", which contained two files in development, showing only a helmet and chestplate. One was finished and called "chain.png" and resembled chain armor, and the other was unfinished and called "plate.png". Plate.png was used in Survival Test for mobs, and eventually removed in an unknown version. These were presumably added in Classic 0.24_SURVIVAL_TEST, however, when they were truly added is unknown.

Potions
There were 29 potions without effects that were left behind in. All unused potions had effects when implemented but none after that, and appeared to be different colours from current potions. These potions were later removed in the Java Edition 1.9 snapshot 15w44b.

These potions could only be obtained by using the command {{cmd|give @p minecraft:potion 1  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.

Calm4.ogg


Calm4.ogg was a music file (alongside the other tracks) that was beta-tested and created by Notch himself. The song is 3:13.

It consists of an up-beat synth, battle-like tune. At 1:36 in the song, the player can hear Notch saying "Mojang Specifications" in slow-motion.

The track was released around, but in this track was omitted from the downloaded game files. As such, players who had the game while the song was still in it 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 calm4.ogg will not allow the track to be heard, since music is downloaded separately from the .jar files.

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 for a very brief period of time - 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 rewritten in the snapshot 14w07a for Java Edition 1.8, but a roadblock was hit and it is reverted before the release of 1.8.

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

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 Beta 1.6.4 and Beta 1.7.3 did not have this text. From 0.0.2a to the last 0.31 release (Indev 0.31 (February 5, 2010)), only the version number was displayed. But after Indev switched from being 0.31 to being called Minecraft Indev (Indev (February 6, 2010)), 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 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 Beta 1.6 Test Build 3 and Beta 1.7.3, as proved by a bytecode editor. The bytecode for the message was removed in Beta 1.8.

Loading screen
From Infdev (June 29, 2010) to Alpha v1.0.3, a screen that read "Loading..." could be seen in the bottom left corner when launching the game. This was replaced in Alpha v1.0.4 with the Mojang logo splash screen.

Spawn Nether Portals with
In Alpha v1.2.2a, players had the ability the spawn Nether Portals by pressing. In Alpha v1.2.2b, spawn Nether Portals using was removed.

Time management button and
In Beta 1.8 Pre-release, players had the ability to use the time management buttons and. In Beta 1.8 Pre-release 2 ;), and   working as a result of left-in debug code was removed.

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

Texture pack
Texture packs were added in Alpha v1.2.2, and were replaced with Resource packs in Java Edition 1.6.1 (13w24a).

3D Anaglyph


3D Anaglyph is an option in video settings that applies an red-cyan stereoscopic effect, and when wearing 3D glasses, can actually see different parts of the game in varying depths, making the world "pop out". In the Java Edition 1.13 snapshot 17w43a, 3D Anaglyph was removed for unknown reasons.

Void fog


In Beta 1.8, black void fog and the  particle 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 at and under layer 16, as well as in the void.

The void fog was removed in snapshot 14w34c, the main reason being to improve perfomance. The  particle 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 Java Edition 1.8 snapshot 14w07a, dispensers had the ability to place a command block that it contained, when activated. This feature was removed as of version 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 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 evaporates on magma blocks
In Java Edition 1.10 (16w20a), water evaporates on top of magma blocks when randomly ticked. In Java Edition 1.13 (18w07a), whirlpool bubble columns is produced on top of magma blocks instead.

Full hotbar
Before Java Edition 1.4.2, creating a world in creative mode always having full hotbar, which includes oak sapling, bricks, oak planks, spruce planks, cobblestone, dirt, etc.

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

Super Secret Settings
The "Super Secret Settings", added in Java Edition 1.7.2 snapshot 13w38a, were removed in Java Edition 1.9 snapshot 15w31a for 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, added in Java Edition 1.7.4 snapshot 13w47a, was removed in Java Edition 1.9 snapshot 15w31a. Twitch chat was integrated into the game.

entity.hanging.place and entity.hanging.pop
and were two sound effects added in 15w49a and removed in the next snapshot, 15w49b.

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

Tags
The  and   was added in 1.13 snapshots 18w07a and 18w07b respectively and removed in 18w10c. Before the removal, these tags functions follows: