The grass and leaf textures in Alpha 1.2.6 used a raw, vibrant color palette that was permanently changed in the Beta versions.

Alpha v1.2.6 stands as the , closing the book on the Alpha chapter just before the game transitioned to Beta on December 20, 2010. This transition also marked a price increase from €9.95 to €14.95. Anyone who bought the game before that date had witnessed the end of the Alpha era firsthand.

In an era of Minecraft where you can fly with elytra and trade with piglins, Alpha feels like an archaeological dig. It lacks a hunger bar, so healing is purely based on eating food instantly. Crafting recipes are fewer, and the world feels genuinely lonely.

Perhaps the most memorable addition for early server administrators was the /kill command. Typing this in chat would instantly deal to the player, effectively killing them instantly. This became an essential tool for server ops to handle stuck players, griefers, or simply to add a bit of chaos to the early survival multiplayer (SMP) experience.

Minecraft Alpha v1.2.6 is the final version of the Alpha development phase, released on December 3, 2010

The modern Mojang launcher has a built-in time machine function. It allows you to legally and safely boot up historical versions.