Accessing a terminal when an interactive desktop session is unresponsive?
There hasn't been a console bypass on OSX since 10.0 days, so it's not so much Apple removed it as the feature never passed review for initial implementation. Having such a bypass is a security risk if anyone with physical access to the machine can simply open a shell with a key press or two.

Here's what you can do:


You can ssh into your OS since it runs sshd like all unix.
You can use a remote management tool like Apple Remote Desktop to issue remote commands as well.


I understand your take on it being a flaw or omission, but it's just not part of the OS X heritage to have a back door to a prompt like linux has implemented.