How to download older versions of Minecraft on Java Edition

While moving forward is the ultimate goal for Minecraft and every other game, there are certain things that bring nostalgia to the players. Minecraft has had many different versions over its 12-year lifespan and will certainly have many more.

Minecraft introduces great updates but sometimes, these new features are either underwhelming or pointless. This leads to a desire to replay older versions of the game, and many players miss Minecraft's humble beginnings.

However, some players cannot access older versions of Minecraft.

Devastated to find out that I've been playing on Bedrock and not Java. My blond is really showing tonight guys pls bear with me, I've been all "I miss the old minecraft" and "hm I wonder how cc's get the old minecraft instead of what it looks like now haha" im gonna k word myself

— Nico :) (@segzhaver) August 24, 2021

Unfortunately, this is a feature exclusive to Minecraft Java Edition and is not available for any console, mobile or other Bedrock players. Java Edition has some exclusive features, but is not compatible with any other platform of Minecraft.

Updates are permanent for consoles and mobile games, but computers have the ability to open and manage file history (though Windows 10 edition doesn't allow this yet).

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Downloading old versions of Minecraft on Java

Java Edition allows players access to a lot of features that Bedrock players do not have, like mods and the ability to access past versions of the game. For Bedrock, a new update, like the recent 1.17, is final and non-reversible. Java Edition lets players revert back to the older versions with a few steps.

1. Go to the launcher.
2. Find the "Launch Options".
3. Create a new one. This will open up all available versions and will allow players to access any of them. However, this is only possible if historical versions are activated in the settings.
4. Select the preferred version and launch the game.

This will allow players to try out the 1.11 version of Minecraft as well as 1.06, 1.02, 1.0 and more. After that, the game will launch with the chosen older version and should run fine without any major hiccups.

The first version of Minecraft (Classic Minecraft), however, is available for free to all players through any Internet browser. Apart from that, older versions are solely exclusive to Java Edition players. Unfortunately, Bedrock Edition users will have to play the current version that Mojang releases.

Classic Minecraft is available free for all players on the Internet. Image via Minecraft

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