Minecraft is known for both its exploration and modding/building aspects. Countless players have fond memories of their initial attempts at cave exploration or trying to hastily construct a shelter before the first night, ultimately learning the consequences of their actions. A significant part of this exploration involves discovering diverse biomes with distinct characteristics and creatures, making each one distinct and intriguing.
The removal of a biome from the game always creates a sense of intrigue. It seems as though a part of the game’s exploration has been lost forever. Despite Minecraft’s extensive development, only a few biomes have been eliminated. The following is a list of these biomes, including their descriptions and any modern equivalents.
The lost biomes of Minecraft
Arctic Tundra
Beta 1.8 was taken out.
The Tundra biome, which has long since disappeared, was known for its harsh frozen conditions. It was mostly a desolate land, except for the layer of snow that covered the grass. There were sporadic trees, however, providing a slight chance for players to establish a basic Minecraft shelter.
In modern Minecraft biomes, such as Ice Spikes, the DNA of the Tundra, which was removed in beta, can still be found. These biomes are just as harsh and unforgiving to outsiders as the barren frozen waste they were once a part of.
Tropical Rainforests
Beta 1.8 has been taken out.
In Minecraft, rainforests were known as wet biomes with a higher chance of generating as large biomes. This was significant, as previous versions typically had smaller biomes. These forests were abundant in oak trees and were known for their numerous cliffs due to their unique generation process.
The ultimate destination of the Rainforest was clearly Minecraft’s excessively overgrown jungles. Due to the fact that jungle wood is significantly different from oak and that jungle trees can generate in various sizes, it was likely a wise decision to remove rainforests. However, the worlds discovered with Minecraft’s most exceptional jungle seeds more than compensate for the loss of these extravagant oak forests.
Deciduous forest
Eliminated: Beta 1.8
Seasonal forests were a type of forest commonly located near plains biomes or acting as a barrier between regular forests and rainforests. Their appearance was indistinguishable from regular forests, except for the fact that they produced fewer trees and only oak trees.
With advancements in biome blending, the role of seasonal forests in the modern game has become less apparent. The removal of rainforests also contributed to the decrease in their significance, as they were no longer necessary intermediaries in the biome hierarchy.
Frozen tundra
Eliminated: Beta 1.8
Despite never being fully officially implemented, ice deserts remain an intriguing and unique biome. They consist of a vast expanse of sand covered in snow and ice, making them even more inhospitable than the tundra mentioned earlier.
There is already a biome in the current version of the game that closely resembles the ice desert biome, known as the snowy beach. These snow-covered sandy shores bear a striking resemblance to what an ice desert would look like, but with the addition of more water. The reintroduction of the ice desert biome would enhance the diversity of snowy beaches and further improve the quality of Minecraft’s frozen landscapes.
Savanna
Eliminated: Beta 1.8
Shrublands are also intriguing as one of the removed biomes. They were small in size, even smaller than the minimum requirement for a forest to spawn. They closely resembled savanna biomes, with only a few trees and no short grass. This unique generation often resulted in these biomes appearing as empty spaces, lacking much in terms of vegetation.
As previously mentioned, the shrubland biome bears a striking resemblance to the modern savanna biome, which is home to Minecraft 1.21’s lovable armadillos. It is reasonable to assume that the shrubland biome served as inspiration for the creation of the modern savanna.
Java Edition Biome Changes
The provided link leads to a YouTube video with the URL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKj14IiTCb0.
The update known as Caves and Cliffs is renowned for its complete transformation of the game’s terrain generation and Minecraft’s ore distribution. However, it also resulted in numerous biomes being classified as unused in Bedrock and completely eliminated in Java.
The complete compilation of these biomes includes:
- Legacy Frozen Ocean
- Desert Lakes
- Mountain Edge
- Deep Warm Ocean
- Hills biome variants
- Badlands Plateau
- Modified Plateau biome variants
- Moodified Wooded Badlands Plateau
- Mushroom Field Shore
Despite not being technically removed from the game, these biomes have not received the same level of expansion as the rest. This is because the new terrain generation in Bedrock naturally incorporates the style of these biomes, making them no longer necessary as distinct biomes. While they may have lost their designation, they continue to exist in the game.
In Minecraft, the desert lakes biome is no longer necessary for the best desert seeds to generate, as the lakes now appear naturally within deserts according to the terrain’s height. While the biome still exists and desert lakes can still be found, they are no longer considered a separate biome due to their natural generation within deserts.
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