modern MIPS has "ext" and "ins", which are probably an improvement in that regard.
> plentiful-yet-unhelpfully-named registers
what's wrong with MIPS register names? my only comparison is x86 and that has been awful. I'm constantly looking up which registers are what.
They're not really names, just "addresses" of a different form --- and of course, 0 is not really a register. x86 register names are supposed to be mnemonic, because certain instructions are only usable with, or have shorter forms when used with, the "right" register: Accumulator, Count, Base, Data/Divide, Stack Pointer, Base Pointer, Source Index, Destination Index.
To me the MIPS registers seem pretty logical too, though: $zr for zero, $sp for stack pointer, $a0-3 for arguments, $t0-7 for temporaries and $s0-7 for saved registers. Much better than the plain numbered registers on some assembly flavors.