Old Minecraft mob textures: Looking back at iconic mobs before they were changed

Minecraft has loads of different mobs that roam its world. Each one is distinct in terms of looks, behavior, and size. The game has pixelated graphics, meaning the mob textures are also made up of nothing but large pixels. Since the game has been out since 2011, some of the old textures are quite famous among the old player base.

While Mojang Studios has constantly updated and polished mob textures to make them look fresh, some used to look extremely different when they were first released or announced.

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Iconic Minecraft mobs that had their textures changed

Zombie Pigmen/Zombified Piglin

Zombie Pigmen's texture and name were changed to Zombified Piglin (Image via Mojang Studios)

Zombie Pigmen has been in Minecraft ever before the game was officially released. They were part of the Halloween update in 2010 but were permanently added by Notch, the creator of the sandbox game.

At first, Zombie Pigmen's model was identical to that of a player character. Hence, the entity's head was small and had the texture of a pig's head that had been turned into a zombie. For several years, this model was used by the most common Nether mob.

Fast forward to 2020, when Mojang Studios announced the 1.16 Nether update, they introduced a brand new look for the mob, showcasing a larger pig head that was completely different from regular Overworld pigs. Along with the texture change, the developers also renamed the mob to Zombified Piglins. This change was implemented because they were planning to introduce a new Piglin mob to the game with the update.

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Endermite

Endermite's entire texture and model was changed (Image via Mojang Studios)

Endermites are one of the lesser-known mobs that were added to Minecraft a few years after the game was released. They are hostile mobs that are essentially the residue of an ender pearl and have a five percent chance of spawning.

When they were first introduced in snapshot 14w11a, Mojang Studios used Silverfish's model and painted it purple to depict an endermite. This design did not last long as the developers soon created a unique model and color for the small creature in the snapshot 14w17a.

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Horse

Horses were initially added to the game in an April Fool's update (Image via Mojang Studios)

Horses are one of the most iconic mobs in Minecraft with a unique, hilarious history attached to it. Back in 2013, Mojang Studios introduced an April Fools update called Minecraft 2.0. In this update, they retextured cows and pigs as horses and ponies respectively. This became the first time a horse was ever mentioned in the block game.

Though horses were associated with the game as a joke due to the April Fools update, the developers were serious about the mob. A few days later, Mojang Studios released snapshot 13w16a where they added seven brand new horse variants and their babies. These were, of course, vastly different from what the April Fools update horses looked like.

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Creeper

Creepers were created by accident while modeling pigs (Image via Mojang Studios)

Creeper is arguably the most iconic mob in Minecraft. This sneaky annoying hostile mob has been in the game ever since it was first developed by Notch in 2009.

When the creator of Minecraft was trying to model a pig in the game, they accidentally created a weird-looking model with animation. The model was upright, without arms, and was light grey. Notch found the model creepy but funny and decided to keep it for a future mob, which eventually became the famous creeper.