36 Minecraft Changes You Missed!

Minecraft’s axolotls used to look like this,  and dripstone was gonna look like this!   These are massive changes Mojang have made  without you noticing, starting with number 1: Creepers used to be a LOT more stealthy. Back when  they were added, Minecraft’s grass and leaves were  

All extremely bright green, meaning that creepers  were pretty much camouflaged! It first looked like   this when it was just a coding error, but then  the creator overlayed the texture of leaves to   help them blend in. He even said he imagined  them “as being crunchy, like dry leaves.” When  

Mojang added biome colours, the creeper ended up  sticking out, but that’s probably for the better. Number 2 In the same version that added the creeper   texture, Steve had a massive change. His hair was  added to the hat layer of the skin, making it a  

Little more 3D. But if you take it off… That’s  just not right. Luckily, Mojang changed it back   without anyone noticing, since third person  wasn’t even an option back the. They shaved   his beard not long after, but the “Steve” and  “Herobrine” accounts both have cat costumes now.

Number 3 Steve’s name has also changed a   few times. When he was added to Smash Bros., to  keep him a secret, they codenamed him “pickel”.   In Japanese, this word here means “ice ax”, and  it comes from this German word. Steve’s default  

Name in Minecraft: Pocket Edition Lite, used to be  Stevie. I mean, it’s certainly closer than pickle. Number 4 Mojang messed up   while making the axolotl. Whoever made the model  accidentally moved the body 10 pixels forward,   making it look like a massive snout! This  also ended up giving it a really long and thin  

Tail with legs that aren’t attached to  anything. I thought they were trying   to PROTECT endangered species! This is just  evil, but kinda cute. Like a giant tadpole. Speaking of mob mishaps, at number five is  Mojang’s first interpretation of Minecraft pigs,  

Which had some funny faces. With NO snout!  Maybe if we move the body forward- no, nope.   They dropped a random amount of mushrooms  when killed and when piglets were added,   you could put a saddle on one and ride  it! They changed this BUT you can still  

Use commands to ride baby striders,  though you’ll take damage from the lava. And for number six, striders had a lot more  changes. At first, the art director wanted   them to look like this, inspired by tardigrades.  Mojang then created this version with nine legs,  

Before settling on the final strider we  know today. In the texture file, there was   a secret fin which, when added into the game  looked- OW. That looks- oof- really painful… Number 7 Minecarts were added TWELVE years ago, so they’ve  

Had a lot of changes. They used to have this bit  of leather in them and instead of being able to   ride them, they were just like chest minecarts.  And the minecart item used to look like THIS. Number 8 You know bark blocks?  

Looks a little weird having this texture  on all six sides, doesn’t it? Well Mojang   snuck in a texture without you noticing for the  tops of these blocks, and it looks a lot worse,   not gonna lie. Luckily, they quietly  removed it before it ever showed up in-game. Number 9 Mojang broke  

A feature you see ALL THE TIME when they added  LAN mode to the game and very few people have   noticed it. When you take damage, you tilt your  head. Before they made the accidental change,   your head would tilt in the direction you  took damage from! Honestly it’s been like  

This for so long that it has become part of the  game’s DNA, but Mojang really should fix it. Number 10 Enchanting   tables used to look similar to dispensers  and furnaces. They were made of cobblestone   when they were being added but this was changed  to obsidian to make it harder to obtain until  

Later in the game. Can’t be letting you have  protection 4 iron armor right from the start! Number 11 Here’s a change that happens   in-game you might not have spotted. When picking  up a tadpole in a bucket, the water inside changes  

Colour! And when picking up any aquatic mob, the  item drops down a pixel The art director said   this was caused by the weight of the fish, which  is a fun explanation for a tiny little detail. Number 12  You’ve seen the awkward axolotl, but dolphins  were changed pretty hugely and this one wasn’t  

An accident. In their first appearance from  Minecon Earth 2017, they had rotating heads,   separate from their bodies! I think it looks a  little cuter but it’s definitely less realistic.   The early design did show up in the  official update aquatic artwork however! Number 13 Unlike how roses became poppies, the dandelions  

Have stayed pretty much the same over the years.  Though, they were just called “flower” in the   inventory for a very long time. The dandelion  was changed majorly by complete accident while   this developer was making something completely  different. He “grabbed [the] dandelion and slapped  

Some random pixels on it just to distinguish it  while testing.” Interesting way to develop things. Number 14 Before redstone repeaters, redstoners had to get creative. Even more creative than they are now and I don’t mean creative mode. You had to build   repeaters with stone and redstone torches. This  directly inspired the crafting recipe when it  

Was turned into an item, compacting this into  just one block. That’s a really useful change. Number 15  Everyone loves eating Minecraft’s chocolate chip  cookies, apart from parrots, who die on the spot   when you feed them one. It used to not be this  way! Parrots used to breed when given cookies,  

But Mojang had to change it when they realised  that chocolate is toxic to birds in real life,   and they didn’t want anyone to  try it on their own pet birds. Number 16 Minecraft 1.0 added the end dimension,  

And its portal went through a big change from  its initial design. Walking into the portal room,   you’ll see twelve cross-shaped, floating bits  of… glass? Placing an eye of ender inside   will turn it into a cracked cube of glass,  allowing the portal to be fully opened.  

These blocks did look pretty magical, but Mojang  decided to make the frame make a bit more sense. Number 17 This item here is what   hoppers used to look like when they were made  available in 2013. At the time you could fuel  

A furnace with a hopper! This work in progress  icon was replaced in the next snapshot but,   when you dropped it on the floor, it  became a mix of end stone and oak planks   because the game was taking the texture  from the same spot in the wrong file.

Number 18 Breaking a mature carrot crop   always drops between two and five individual  carrots. But what if they were in groups?   This is what carrots used to look like when  they were added! Looks like an orange hand!   Golden carrots were added at the  same time and looked weirdly thin.  

Mojang made it look even more like a  paintbrush in the next snapshot as well! Number 19 In the same snapshot that added carrots,   invisibility potions were added. A removed feature  that was really interesting made an invisible   wolf’s collar stay visible. It was changed  likely to improve the stealthiness of the effect,  

But pig saddles don’t disappear and neither does  your armour. Horse saddles do disappear though!   Also, the effect icon for invisibility  used to look like a disappearing player. Number 20 Mojang changed   their mind on a few decisions in the past,  one being the inclusion of nether gold ore.  

A Mojang employee said in a livestream that  the block would not be added to the game,   but the fan response on Minecraft’s feedback  site was so passionate that the developers   changed their minds and added it in. The  texture looked a lot different at first too!

Number 21 Here’s something YOU can change about slimes!   There are normally only three sizes but, using  this command, you can change them to be however   big you want! The biggest one doesn’t even fit on  the screen without disappearing. When slimes were  

Added, they looked like this and were literally  just cubes. You can’t see through them at all. Number 22 Slime blocks were   first called “bouncy blocks” when Jeb showed them  off in this tweet, and honey blocks look pretty   similar to slime blocks. They originally looked  even more similar in this video from Minecon.  

This article on the Minecraft website shows them  without the central cube, and this Bedrock Edition   beta had a tiny central cube! I prefer the  small one. Imagine being able to go inside it! Number 23 You probably never noticed  

This change because you probably never use the  block. The jigsaw block is a real block that’s   used for making large structures out of smaller  ones! They used to be just simple black and white.   At that point they were only used for world  generation, making them useless for players. Number 24 Each one of  

Minecraft’s crafting stations is distinct, but  they weren’t gonna be before Mojang changed it!   The cartography table and fletching table both  used to look a lot more like the crafting table. Number 25 There are so many types of stone bricks,  

I wouldn’t blame you for forgetting their names.  Mojang took a while to decide on a name for this   particular variant. At first, they were commonly  known as CIRCLE stone bricks, which is extremely   cursed for a Minecraft block name. The block was  then renamed to detailed stone bricks and then  

Mojang decided to call them chiseled stone  bricks, which is a much more fitting name. Number 26 Ender chests were first a suggestion on Reddit,   so Mojang changed it a bit. They used to be made  of planks instead of obsidian (likely changed  

For a similar reason to the enchanting table) and  they used to be shared among all players because   Jeb thought they were so useful that there needed  to be a drawback, like your items not being safe. Number 27 If you’re a Minecraft veteran like me,  

You’ll know that villagers used to have the  name TESTIFICATE over their heads, but you   might not know that, while the Village and Pillage  update was being made, if you spawned in a giant,   the villagers would run away from them and could  even get infected by it. How can you be that dumb?  

It can’t even move! This change was reverted, even  though it would probably never affect the game. Number 28 If you’ve ever   played one of Minecraft’s oldest versions  you’ll know that saplings and oak planks   used to look… pretty weird. Even though the  sapling has changed many times over the years,  

The shape has always stayed the same. From  having only two colours to being nicely shaded,   the sapling really has evolved. Number 29  Another block that used to look weird during  alpha Minecraft, was the block of diamond,   which were called “emerald blocks” at the time.  You only needed four diamonds to make these,  

But Mojang changed it to nine. While making  the texture update, these blocks went through   some… rough looking drafts, but eventually  Mojang settled on what we know and love today. Number 30 The dirt path was  

Added to Bedrock Edition a long time before it was  added to Java. They used to be called grass paths,   and the texture changed during 1.18’s  development. Mojang wanted to darken the   top part of the sides but, while doing  that, accidentally moved the dirt part  

Down. In the next snapshot it was moved  back up to be just like the grass block. Number 31  Think sitting on that strider fin would hurt?  Well, the stonecutter used to look a lot less   dangerous. If you’ve played since Pocket  Edition, you’ll remember this block which  

Was created to stop the crafting table menu  from getting too cluttered. It was removed   but returned in 2018 with a new design that  was then changed to the one we know today. Number 32 Making an update, there are  

Loads of prototypes we NEVER see. This is just  one of eighteen concept versions of dripstone.   Even if you don’t like how dripstone looks  now, you’ve gotta be glad we didn’t get this. Number 33 This block changed from being an April  

Fools’ joke to being an actually useful block.  The coal block looked just like the redstone   block in the 2013 Minecraft 2.0 joke update and  had the same functionality as it does today. Even   though Dinnerbone said it  would be difficult to add,  

Mojang added it a month later as a real  thing! It even had its redstone block texture. Number 34 In 1.11,   Mojang added the shulker box and for over a year,  until 1.13, the default one was called the purple  

Shulker box. The light grey one was called the  silver shulker box for one snapshot, as well.   In 1.13, the purple shulker box became just a  regular one, and an actual purple one was added. Number 35 In a preview   before the 2010 Halloween update released,  zombie pigmen were shown for the first time,  

With a different skin and no weapon. They  were found in “the slip” (the old name for   the Nether) and were said to be “kind  of useless”. Bit of a shock when they   were added and would hunt you down for eternity  if you so much as tapped one on the shoulder.

Speaking of the nether, for number 36, the first  snapshot hoglins were added to had a funny glitch   involving them. When hurt, they would flail their  arms around like crazy and then go completely   back to normal. For more weird glitches that  changed Minecraft, watch this video right here, and join the Discord! Link’s below.