Our December 2012 review opened with a simple point: once you get into Minecraft modding, you run into Mo’ Creatures. “It does one simple thing but brilliantly,” we wrote, “the mod adds loads of new creatures!” DrZhark’s mod filled the world with animals and monsters, and some of them you could tame and ride.
The original Mo’ Creatures has not moved since 2018. Its last file, 12.0.5 for Minecraft 1.12.2, went up on CurseForge on October 17, 2018. The mod lives on in three other projects. The official continuation stays on 1.12.2, a faithful port reaches 1.20.1, and a bug-fix build keeps 1.7.10 alive.
This page replaces our old Mo’ Creatures review. Nobody here has played the mod or its successors for this refresh; every fact comes from the official project pages, checked on October 16, 2026.
What Mo’ Creatures adds
The CurseForge page describes it as “a mod that adds over 40 new mobs to your game”. It “provides many new animal and monster mobs, as well as the ability to tame and ride some.” The page dates the mod’s first release to November 17, 2010. The project has been on CurseForge for more than a decade.
The original needs a second mod by the same author: “Mo’ Creatures requires Custom Mob Spawner for all versions.” Custom Mob Spawner handles the spawning. The mod is open source under GPLv3, and DrZhark’s development repository is on GitHub.
Mo’ Creatures version history
The CurseForge files tab lists 17 files. The table shows the newest file for each main Minecraft version. The three oldest were uploaded to CurseForge on the same day in 2015, so that date is not their original release date.
| Minecraft | Last version | On CurseForge |
|---|---|---|
| 1.12.2 | 12.0.5 | October 17, 2018 |
| 1.10.2 | 10.0.6 | October 18, 2016 |
| 1.8.9 | 8.2.2 | August 12, 2016 |
| 1.8.8 | 8.0.1 | November 25, 2015 |
| 1.7.10 | 6.3.1 | April 6, 2015 |
| 1.7.2 | 6.2.1 | April 6, 2015 |
| 1.6.4 | 6.1.0 | April 6, 2015 |
| 1.13 and newer | None | See the revivals below |
What replaced it
| Project | Minecraft | Loader | Newest file | Endorsed by DrZhark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mo’ Creatures Extended | 1.12.2 | Forge | 12.5.1, July 31, 2026 | Yes |
| Mo’ Creatures: Nostalgia Edition | 1.20.1, 1.16.5 | Forge | 1.20.1-1.0.0, July 30, 2025 | Not stated |
| Mo’ Creatures Legacy | 1.7.10 | Forge | 1.2, February 22, 2025 | No |
Mo’ Creatures Extended
This is the one the original points to. The Mo’ Creatures CurseForge page says “Mo’ Creatures Extended is the endorsed continuation of the mod”, and the Extended page says it “is officially endorsed by DrZhark”. ACGaming owns the project now, and DrZhark is listed as a former author.
Extended drops the old dependency: “Custom Mob Spawner is no longer needed as we emulated its behavior with the vanilla spawner.” The team also lists cleaned-up code, faster data structures, new spawn options in the config, fixes for hitboxes and language files, and reworked AI and breeding. Hearts and eggs drop less often. It is still updated, with two releases in July 2026, but only for Minecraft 1.12.2.
Mo’ Creatures: Nostalgia Edition
Nostalgia Edition is the way to play Mo’ Creatures on a newer Minecraft version. It calls itself “a faithful revival of Dr. Zhark’s original vision”. It started from the Extended project and, unlike remakes made with tools such as MCreator, it is “built directly from the original Mo’ Creatures source code”. Stable Forge builds exist for 1.16.5 and 1.20.1, and the page says Fabric support is planned. The Wyvern Dimension was rebuilt for the newer game engine. It is open source under GPLv3.
Mo’ Creatures Legacy
Legacy targets one version. Its author says the final Mo’ Creatures for 1.7.10 “was unfinished and was riddled with bugs”, and this project fixes that. It is a standalone mod with no dependencies. Its page gives two warnings: do not use it with Custom Mob Spawner, and do not load it into a world that had the original mod. The page also says it is “not endorsed by Dr Zhark”, and the project is marked finished because the developer has retired.
Which one should you pick?
- You play a 1.12.2 pack: Mo’ Creatures Extended. It is the endorsed continuation and needs nothing else.
- You play 1.20.1 or 1.16.5 on Forge: Nostalgia Edition.
- You play 1.7.10: Mo’ Creatures Legacy, in a new world.
- You play on Fabric or anything newer than 1.20.1: none of these three projects has a build for that yet.
How to install Mo’ Creatures Extended
We use Prism Launcher here because it is free, open source and runs on Windows, macOS and Linux. Our Minecraft Forge guide explains the loader, and the Prism Launcher guide covers instances.
- Install Prism Launcher and sign in with your Microsoft account.
- Create an instance for Minecraft 1.12.2.
- Select it, click Edit, open the Version tab and add Forge.
- Open the Mods tab, click Download Mods, pick CurseForge and search for “Mo’ Creatures Extended”.
- Do not add Custom Mob Spawner. Extended does not need it.
- Click OK and launch the game.
- On a server, put the same jar in the server’s
modsfolder.
For Nostalgia Edition, the steps are the same with a Forge 1.20.1 or 1.16.5 instance. It is on Modrinth, so search there.
Pros
- Over 40 new mobs, some tameable and rideable
- Open source under GPLv3
- An endorsed continuation, still updated in 2026
- A source-based port for Forge 1.20.1
Cons
- The original stops at Minecraft 1.12.2, in 2018
- The original needs Custom Mob Spawner
- No Fabric build and nothing past 1.20.1