Which Minecraft Edition Is Best?

In this Article we discuss the Pros and Cons of owning each available Minecraft edition out there for sale.

We’ll explain on what they do, why do you need it, what it is meant for and so on to better understand the edition so it could meet your needs and what you want best for your Minecraft gameplay.

Minecraft: Java Edition

Brief Summary:

Minecraft Java is the original edition of Minecraft since its release.

It’s largely the most supported and known edition of Minecraft, where the vast community makes large amount of third-party content like textures packs, mods, plugins, a variety of servers and more.

From the title itself, this edition is entirely programmed with the Java programming language.

But as the time flies by, and Microsoft purchased Minecraft from Notch, the creator of Minecraft.

Microsoft made their own Edition with a completely different programming language which is C++ from scratch.

Java has its weaknesses, and it is wasn’t efficient enough to what Microsoft wanted to do with Minecraft on other platforms.

Better optimization, Cross-platform capabilities and more on the efficiency of what Bedrock Edition can and Java couldn’t achieve.

Although, the existence of the Bedrock edition has appeared in the Market, Minecraft java is still going strong as it was the original and still is the most widely supported edition out there for Mods and other features that Minecraft Bedrock doesn’t deeply support.

Pros:

It supports Mods:

If you are wanting to use Mods in Minecraft to add more content and fun things to do in the game.

There is a large community in Minecraft that revolves around Modding.

Unlike the Bedrock Edition, Java has better support for mods, which makes the community widely bigger and active.

Though, recently Bedrock Edition has added a way to include third-party content to the Bedrock Edition called “Data packs” or “Adds-on” to have a way for Modders to add in content in the game but compared to Mods, they are entirely limited, or rather harder to what Mods could achieve easily and how much it could alter the game.

So, if you’re wanting to play the game with Mods later on, Java Edition is 100% for you to cater to that interest.

As there are far more better mods to choose from.

Community:

Despite Bedrock Edition being just as popular or even more than Java due to the wide availability across platforms that has Bedrock Edition compared to Java being only on the PC.

The community for Minecraft Java is fairly more active, and “louder” in social media platforms, this ranges from Wiki, Guides, YouTube videos, and more that you come to find on the internet.

Since Minecraft has been out for ages, it’s expected that the most experience and long-time players of Minecraft are playing in Java because it is more familiar for the players or creators.

So, the media attention and community support are just as big than Bedrock Edition.

Cons:

Not Cross-platform

Java is only available on the PC.

This takes away the chances of playing with friends who don’t have a PC or a PC that can’t run the game because it’s Java.

It also limits you from playing on the go anywhere online with your friends as you obviously need a PC for Java.

For that reason, it’s not favored.

Minecraft: Bedrock Edition (Windows 10 Edition)

Brief Summary:

Minecraft Bedrock Edition is formerly known as Pocket Edition, due to the edition being supported across multiple platforms.

Allowing the player to play with people on different devices due to the cross-platform support and easy access of playing Minecraft on different portable devices.

Bedrock Edition is programmed with C++.

With this edition, Minecrafters outside of the PC platform can have access to Minecraft on their Mobile devices and supported consoles, as well as Windows 10 players even have their own PC bedrock edition available for purchase on the Windows 10 store, where they can play with their friends who don’t have a PC but a device that has Minecraft: Bedrock Edition to play.

With this, you can join any Bedrock Edition server and start playing.

Bedrock Edition has better performance optimization due to the programming language used and the contribution of having it being developed by a bigger company with more experienced staffs to recode the game from scratch.

Since Bedrock Editions main purpose was for it to run on mobile devices, this already gives enough explanation why the performance optimization is better than Java, as Minecraft Java has always been a resource demanding game to run on low to mid quality hardware.

Pros:

Cross-platform capabilities:

Platforms that have Minecraft: Bedrock Edition, can be played with other users on other devices that have Bedrock Edition.

Currently the Bedrock Edition is compatible and supports cross-platform on:

• Android
• IOS
• Windows 10 Mobile and PC
• Nintendo Switch
• Xbox One
• Fire TV
• VR platforms (Oculus Rift, Gear VR & Windows Mixed Reality

Sadly, Playstation doesn’t support Cross-platform play due to Sony’s stance on not wanting Cross-platform, but as of 2019 or later, that will probably soon change, and hopefully, Minecraft Cross-platform will come to Playstation.

Optimization and performance:

Bedrock Edition is known for performing better on not so powerful computer systems.

The reason behind this is Minecraft: Bedrock Edition was built from scratch programmed with C++ for Mobile devices originally, but later going to the Windows 10 store and other platforms.

Java applications are generally resource-demanding on the hardware, so having to reprogram Minecraft entirely from the ground up in a different programming language and for the purpose of it being in portable console devices, this contributed to the better optimization in Minecraft: Bedrock Edition.

Cons:

Doesn’t support mods:

As of right now, Minecraft doesn’t fully support Modding, they do have a way to add in third-party content like Data packs, or add-ons, but not exactly the same what complex Mods could achieve.

So, if you’re wanting to get more out of Modding your Minecraft game, with a bigger Modding community with a wide range of different genre of Mods, Java Edition would be the best for that interest and not Bedrock.

Legacy Console Edition

Brief Summary:

Legacy Console Edition is the Console Edition of Minecraft mainly for consoles of the older generation:

• PS VITA
• Xbox 360
• PS3 & PS4
• 3DS
• WII U

There is no significant difference between Legacy Console and Bedrock Edition, as the Bedrock Edition is deemed to be the newer Edition for consoles and portable devices.

The Legacy Console Edition does not support Cross-platform play, and only allow split-screen for playing with friends.

This is an “abandoned” Edition and is not recommended to purchase unless you have to, other than that, this edition is no longer being updated anymore on any of the said consoles which PS4 is the only console that receives newer updates of the game.

Conclusion:

It entirely depends on you whether you prefer to play with friends in other devices, or to play on a PC so you can install mods on a server and play with friends.

Either way, the Editions do not have major differences in the raw gameplay and content of the game, some game mechanics may function differently but nothing major.

The only thing greatly different is the User Interface but overall the same, gameplay wise.

Have fun!