The History Of Nostalgic Screensavers

[@NexeL_NKC]

I watched 3D pipes unironically for entertainment when I was a really young really dumb kid. I always thought the pipes had people crawling around inside trying to find their way through the maze, and I used to imagine myself alongside said explorers. It was my favorite because the pipes in an infinite black void was very mysterious to me, and I wondered why these pipes just conjured themselves out of nowhere. It's hard to explain why I loved it, but I watched the pipes go for hours.

[@cYObEL]

really good idea for a game

[@person4636]

冰淇淋

[@TheSmokeinator]

pov: you just got up from watching pipes for an hour best relaxation, now to go watch gt slander.

[@GOAT_GOATERSON]

The pipes just were the best

[@Galidorquest]

The only time I got to watch that screensaver was in detention if there was another computer in the room.

[@asderfly3915]

It is rather peculiar how I never had nostalgic feelings for those eras due to the fact that I was not born yet, though I can still remember seeing the pipe screensaver in the doctor’s office. I guess my surroundings were kind of old-fashioned during those times.

[@turbo_marc]

same, except my surroundings were never really old fashioned

[@irishawk5010]

Mhm

[@hilariousskullnamedcatzo647]

That's because you are experiencing anemoia, basically nostalgia for something you've never been or experienced

[@asher3311]

yeah theres a lot of businesses that update to newer versions of windows late, i know a ton didnt upgrade from 7 until windows 10 had been out a while and they stopped supporting 7

[@AlastairG]

Same-ish. I was born in 1999 but didn’t have internet or most tech of that time. We had no live TV either and that house still can’t get live TV or internet there. Literally every provider has said it can’t be done there. Anyways we mostly had VHS, cassette tapes, vintage towns from the 90s and older, etc.

[@SageArdor]

Polygon I just want to say I really appreciate how much detail and ADHD energy you put into all of your videos. If someone asked me what a hyperfixation feels like, I'd immediately direct them to your channel, because I couldn't put it into words myself. Keep being awesome, and thank you for another great video!

[@mustard9808]

Love this comment, I feel the same way.

[@PolygonDonut]

Thank you so much 🥰🥰🥰

[@arlefurilover]

u described this begter than i ever have

[@chrxstt]

this shit makes me feel like i got a mental illness i can’t watch this

[@dancelikean1diot]

truly the silliest of videos

[@Rabid_Froggo]

I wasn't exactly alive for any of these, but I instantly recognized the maze one since one of the regretevator floors is themed after it! Wish these were still around so I could use them!

[@PolygonDonut]

You can still use them if you download the .scr file. That regretavator floor is awesome XD

[@GalaxyGaming86]

It's also a thing that can happen in baldis basics plus. It spawns those shapes that turn you upside down.

[@MG_Cappy]

I was looking for this comment!

[@koko-pg1nf]

Bro I love that floor!!

[@JaydogtheGamer-m9g]

OMG REGRETEVATOR MENTIONED

[@ianeddy4217]

As a 38 year old who had the overwhelming majority of these new, thank you. Many of these screensavers were simply my taken-for-granted daily items. I'd spend hours experimenting around with settings between all of these. I think voyeur from the twisted line was the most fascinating. I'd love to see you go over anything early 90's WIndows 3.1 or MS-DOS. I literally had no idea about the fucking teapot until literally today watching your video. you just taught my old ass something about a screensaver I spent WAY to long spacing out on in high school detention and at home.

[@Pisicutabunaziua]

The DVD screensaver is probably The most popular and my most favorite in my opinion. They really should bring back Screensavers for real

[@loudpainfulscreaming4237]

Facts

[@irishawk5010]

Actual facts

[@Gareth219]

Faxs

[@mrmexicano]

Phaxz

[@jaylanweber]

Real Facts

[@cardomajig24]

The way you called these "hyperfixation videos" is reassuring, it's nice to know you enjoy making them

[@chonalniejashtinez]

Honestly using Backroom Labyrinth for the maze screensaver was the best idea ever

[@iwsallovrher]

Omg yess

[@OliTheOlishi]

fr

[@flowerpotmadeofclay]

Pongon is quite good at putting music together with specific imagery

[@Pacman009]

How

[@Pacman009]

Where?

[@iminyourwalls705]

Ribbons is the most nostalgic for me since my music teacher at my old elementary used it and I remember when his computer would go into sleep mode and I would be mesmerized by the silly colorful ribbons fly around on the projector

[@kokhuatan1228]

Forg

[@RinoaL]

8:34 is that texture you put on the floor.... Busy Town??? That brought back memories of a Busy Town rug I had in the 90s as a kid. wow lol

[@Omicentegon]

even though i was born in 2005 i'm pretty sure busy town rugs were still kinda popular until 2010

[@tgsleo_]

It almost feels weird seeing some of these screensavers again after years. It also has the same energy as classic Windows Media Player visualizers, I remember being entranced as a kid watching all the psychedelic colors and lines while my dad listened to music on our old Windows XP back then!

[@whimai412]

Nice! I almost forgot about those. But they were so entertaining.

[@dragonslayer7724]

ok wow this comment definitely unearthed some memories I forgot about those windows media player animations

[@tgsleo_]

@@dragonslayer7724 Right? I'm just glad some people remember and it isn't a fever dream! Maybe Polygon one day will make a video about them who knows!

[@tivvy2vs21]

Look up project m visualizer for a modern version

[@middleofnowhere1313]

Milkdrop 2 in Winamp can give you all that. You click "visualizer" and it has like hundreds of possibilities.

[@Sharkpu8]

Seeing that polygon has a full on cat folder makes me very happy

[@krystalclouds]

If polygon releases “cat” I’ll be so happy

[@mymelodylover69]

​@@krystalclouds he released it actually

[@springvhs4536]

@@mymelodylover69 WHERE

[@4SKERR]

you dont?

[@ravepaw12]

​@@mymelodylover69wWHERE😭

[@piekarzpaola]

I love when Polygon uses those silly words like "gizmo" or "goofy", also I love the voice he makes during saying them

[@LoraLoibu]

silly voice for silly words

[@NinetailsNineLives]

Forgot to mention "goobers"

[@Notsussybaka900]

You could say they are… goofy words

[@TheSmokeinator]

@@NinetailsNineLives yep. goofy goober gizmo

[@DDumbcan]

doohickeys

[@ChaddyTheGamer]

7:43 Fun fact! : you can also see that teapot in the amazing digital circus intro when there are objects spinning in the air, i think!

[@twinfantasytowers]

Sillyy

[@hunterchichester5720]

Well... He is not wrong

[@varlenthamurtinez]

Cool!

[@Omicentegon]

skibidi monkey😊

[@SunkeryCompactDisk]

Utah teapot was also in toy story and Roblox

[@gymwrecker202]

14:48 I remember I used to have the bubbles and I used to make stories about the loneliest bubble getting famous but not liking the fame and seeing the most popular one being sad that they don’t have popularity and then returning the fame to the popular bubble.

[@odiug95]

I remember changing my 3D text wallpaper almost every week. And when we visited our friends houses, we left each other little messages in the screensaver. Also, the maze screensaver was SCARY!!! It freaked me out as a kid, I always imagined some scary monster would pop out from somewhere.

[@thegodzillafandomsrookie5514]

Backrooms stole your fear1!1!!1!11!11!1!1

[@da_veryfancyman]

The maze screen saver was f r € @ k y

[@JUMALATION1]

As a kid, I was scared of the rat in the maze lmao

[@Mephisarisa]

So glad to see the Utah Teapot easter egg there! It seemed like hardly anyone ever noticed or knew about it. I was an autistic preteen, and very excited to see the teapot spawn. Dunno if I ever managed to convince anyone else that it was real.

[@SimonSideburns]

I believe that not only were there Utah Teapots but also random coffee pots.

[@midnightcinema7813]

For years I’ve had this necktie that I thrifted with spooky looking sets of eyes on it, like you’d see in the opening to scooby doo, and it had this label on the back of the company who made it. Their logo was a flying toaster and it was called “After Dark”. I’ve always wondered why their logo was that but never looked it up, just assuming they were a wacky tie company. I never would have guessed they were a screen saver company who made ties based off their screensavers!

[@12Tecpatl]

after dark merchandise is super cool and rare

[@Coristic121]

dude after dark merch is like super rare

[@midnightcinema7813]

Sick, I had no idea!

[@Sans12575]

dunno how much that’s worth but it might be worth a lot

[@Ambedge]

10:42 i think that C418 has used this eerie sound for the caves in Minecraft

[@flashirasboredlmao]

You made me discover some screensavers I've never heard of before, especially ones from Windows XP Plus!. I even ended up changing the screensaver of my Windows XP VM to Robot Circus, with the scene setting set as 'Arena'. Thanks for this great video! :)

[@oosha2000]

I never got to use oses before xp but I got to know more screensavers.

[@a.wanderer2134]

Bro Polygon I want to say you have become one of my favorite KZbinrs ever. It’s the energy you put in to all of your videos, it makes it so goofy! Can’t wait to see what topic you choose next

[@PolygonDonut]

TYHANK YOU SO MUCH😺😺😺

[@rplacefunny7423]

I await his demise

[@user-qjvqfjv]

How the fuck can you tolerate his obnoxious voice?

[@SpasmFunnel]

The premise was that they were necessary to save your screen... but once that excuse was in place, we had no desire to question the importance of these magical microcosms. How creative and inspiring a thing can be when it doesn't have to justify its existence!

[@paulproia1316]

Leaving my mark here to remember these amazing things. Such a significant reminder of how technology has evolved, but also a significant memory for those who lived during that time and even those who didn’t.

[@NostalgiCrazy]

Don't make me sad 🥺

[@randombomb4078]

Ahh, I remember watching some of those old screensavers with my sister on our old Windows xp computer back in the day, especially the 3D maze. We even used the crazy psychedelic textures!

[@GirlinTheBrownHoodie]

I'm sure these got as popular as they did because many of them are almost like baby sensory videos! I can imagine all the adults getting out their wallets for all the screensaver expansions to keep the kids quietly distracted for hours at a time. Watching flying toasters and randomly generated pipes for no other reason than the fascination of it all.

[@fridaykitty]

I love the April Fools' Minecraft screensavers, but I wish you could pick and choose which one you want. I'd be so down for watching pixel grass grow all day

[@Kazooples]

The psychedelic textures look a lot better when it’s lagging on an old PC, our computer was in my room and I used to watch the psychedelic maze every night to get to sleep, I was convinced I could control it with my mind, or at the very least I would do my best to guess which way it was gonna turn. OH and, my brother changed it to a Daria screensaver once, it BLASTED music in the middle of the night, scared the shit out of me.

[@kittyvalentine0]

I love how your talking about 2000s Screensavers, it's really amazing to learn about this.

[@DeathMelodies]

Dude watching your videos is like how my brain functions on a regular day, and I can actually pay attention without needing a side browsing session. A+ ADHD comrade in arms I appreciate the work involved a lot dude

[@user-qjvqfjv]

So you're as annoying as he is?

[@1love.birds1]

ME WHEN I GET HIT BY A CAR: “ow, ow”

[@proxy7598]

I really like the old Screensavers, seeing them evolve was interesting, gets me nostalgic. Thanks polygon :]

[@RolyMoes]

I had one screensaver back on a Windows 7 touchscreen computer that was a bird's-eye view of some fish swimming around in shallow water, and wherever you tap on the screen it makes a ripple and the fish go towards it. Also just to note: 4:03 - "Bezier" is pronounced like "Bez-yay", 4:40 - "Wagner" is pronounced like "V-ah-gner", 15:50 - "Arabesque" is pronounced like "Air-a-besk".

[@reqra73]

tbh polygon donut is my comfort youtuber, hes so funny silly and goofy and always makes me smile :3

[@huntforbigfloptober1333]

My grandma actually had Afterdark games! I never realized what it was supposed to be because my only knowledge of screensavers is of the Bad Dog era I wish my roku tv had a good selection of screensavers. I would kill to have flying toasters

[@poninefreak3321]

Back in the day, my sister and I would love messing around with the screensavers on an old Windows XP computer we had. The maze was one of our favorites and we had fun playing with all the different textures!

[@Spooky_Cat_real]

I know you briefly mentioned Frutiger aero, but you should make an entire video around the aesthetic

[@jennykeele]

14:13 I WANT TO SWIM IN THE GODDAMM RADIOACTIVE WINDOWS XP CAVERN

[@PresidentAbrahamLincoln69]

Mercury isn’t radioactive

[@RAYYAN_GAMING1801]

14:13 i want to swim in the goddamn radioactive windows xp cavern

[@sharkysharkshark]

14:13 *i want to swim in the goddamm radioactive windows xp cavern*

[@renniewong3147]

14:13 i want to swim in the goddamm radioactive windows xp cavern

[@TCcars2]

14:13 I want to swim in the goddamn radioactive windows Xp cavern

[@TwinedCalico]

would really love to see a history of the Jumpstart PC games.... they were given away as chick fil a toys and would be a good addition to your nostalgia series

[@Solaceon]

Ama their history only deepens too, considering they're now trashing Neopets of all sites

[@TwinedCalico]

@@Solaceon dude i forgot ab neopets omg

[@Killerkraft975]

I would say screensavers are still in use today. Applications like wallpaper engine although aren't on lockscreen backgrounds, they are on desktop backgrounds and have customizable moving animations and user generated content so really, the legacy of moving wallpapers and screensavers live on.

[@rajasohanalam6651]

It was the time, when I used to wait for the screensaver to pop up in my childhood.

[@S0BA_2007]

I was born in 2007 yet these screensavers feel so nostalgic for some reason.

[@Fidumo]

same but 2 years later lol especially the pipe one

[@S0BA_2007]

@@Fidumo There’s just something special about the 80s-90s

[@aino-kaisav5504]

Born 2003 but since I have big brothers born -89, -90, -95 and -98, I grew with a lot of 90s stuff.

[@Airconditionergaming]

We are the same :)

[@gdtyra]

That's interesting, I wonder why. They're nostalgic for me too, but I probably spent hours watching After Dark screensavers and playing with the configuration options on my Grandma's old Mac (also Warcraft 2 and Simcity 2000)

[@aquaintsound]

To all the kiddos now and young people who weren't around for the pipe screensaver when it first came around: Now I know that the pipe screensaver is just that cool, my nostalgia glasses aren't lying to me. I could stare at the screensaver for music playing to the beat of Windows Media Player for hours as a kid. It felt like watching a whole music playlist, probably not as revolutionary now but it was amazing then

[@hayleyquinnx94]

I remember waaaay more windows 98 ones! You should also do a video about Windows themes like the ocean theme, the themes changed stuff like the error noises, in the ocean theme it was a seal noise, and the power on was like a wave crashing noise

[@bellaknightR597]

My ADHD brain could watch those pipes for hours

[@WushyDev]

This video is my favorite one for sure!

[@nasirka71]

the editing is superb ^_^

[@mikeyy_zip]

​@@nasirka71Ik, polugo donu is so cool!!!!!!!!

[@joshravenway6875]

As a kid i would just mess around with the settings and watch screen savers for hours man. Blew my mind, especially the pipes! I wasnt around till 2001 but when ur poor u grow up with all the older systems

[@oosha2000]

I would also mess with the settings as a kid without much of my knowledge yet I had fun, I felt old oses were user friendly even for the dummies like 3 yo me

[@Pixelcraftian]

The thing I like about screensavers the most is that they still work today, albeit, an old one I tried did end up making my monitor freak out _(had to restart my pc to fix it)_ but other than that, I love screensavers they're funny :) Awesome video 👍👍👍👍 _(oh, by the way, if anybody knows where any mario screensavers are let me know)_

[@yoursafetyisnotourproblem3702]

he’s here again🫵

[@CyaninAnimator]

pixel you could just y'know edit the 3d maze textures to be super mario

[@blueartist4329]

This is the most engaging yet ominous video that polygon donut has made..

[@DarkCloudVA2]

Its so surreal seeing all these old screensavers, born in 91, so 95 and 98 were the ones i grew up with. Good times man

[@VIIXILITRUXUS]

I never knew a video about screen savers could be so interesting.

[@cringetrain]

"You can watch some architecture do *A LITTLE DANCE!* " I lost myself there 💀

[@weirdslushie7601]

I laughed too

[@NinetailsNineLives]

*F R E N C H. A R C H I T E C T U R E.*

[@UraniumStealer]

Polygon donut never fails to make amazing content

[@MaoRatto]

As someone who was raised in the 2000's.... This mortifies me as I remember these fondly when I was 10 and 11..

[@TaherehV]

I took 20 FREAKING NOTES on this and showed it to my class, the presentation was about half an hour long

[@PolygonDonut]

OMG REALLY NICE

[@MiaRain_]

I live for the polygon donut videos of life

[@gamingns233]

12:29 DO A LITTLE DANCE

[@T3H_C0SM1C_SP4RT4N]

Electric guitars, miscellaneous goobers, Architecture and leaves doing a little dance

[@H_fromDiscord_real]

@@T3H_C0SM1C_SP4RT4Nthey're not leaves, they're guitar picks

[@lizardjr.7826]

Finally someone getting to the real issues

[@mcfish206]

9:00 thank you so much for showing how to customize that screen saver, I've been trying to figure it out for years

[@Creative_YT]

Bro the ribbons and 3d pipes are in the top 3 most nostalgic screensavers for me. But they don’t even get cloooose to #1, which is *definitely* 3d flowerbox. I love that thing to death.

[@oekt7834]

7:34 time to grind for that teapot

[@Genio_soy]

I love how some of these give nostalgia even tough i wasnt alive back then

[@MaoRatto]

POV: You perished in the 90's and reincarinated in the future

[@apperusenpai]

When I was little, we had an American Greetings CD-ROM that basically just let you customize your own American Greetings card (which my sisters and I found MANY excuses to make cards with lol). Most importantly though, it came with its own screensaver that featured a collection of various art "speedpaints". I found this one MESMERIZING. I could seriously sit forever and watch various colors and textures splash across the screen and try to guess what picture it was going to be before it completed. Even now, I find myself thinking about it every once in a while

[@mayomuse5007]

I remember sitting at my dad's computer for an hour waiting for the aquarium screensaver to pop up, getting bored and leaving to do something else, then my brother yells "IT'S HERE COME BACK AND LOOK AT THE FISH"

[@SjokopandaM-T]

12:53 feels very liminal like actually

[@user-iz5pd7tj6q]

Bro your editing style and concepts are awsome. You deserve more followers

[@Not_pplepi]

9:02 WHAT THE DEVAL

[@Vintagefan60]

Oh my god, it's a secret level!

[@ArcticaTheFox]

Oh my god, the bubbles screensaver was my ENTIRE childhood

[@ImTandori]

Finally someone else that knows of the Broken Reality OST AND ENA OST??? Truly a cultured individual you are

[@werewolfmfkas]

Okay now i need to upload those screensavers immediately, this remembers me of my childhood and schooltime

[@jirifr6165]

there is so much effort put into your videos, i love it :D

[@lourdesdeath4379]

There's a screensaver I remember that I've never seen mentioned online (possibly because it wasn't very popular?). It was little drawings being done and sometimes things about them would change as they were being done. I specifically remember that there was one of a man in the rain, wearing a yellow raincoat, and at the end he gets struck by lightning. My nostalgia brain wants to watch it again but I don't know which version of Windows had it or if my family had downloaded it so I've never found it :(

[@PolygonDonut]

Hmmm i dont know what screensaver you are talking about maybe you will find it someday

[@UNIX32]

There is a possibility that screensavers could make a comeback as OLED displays also suffer with burn-in. Also, there is a program for Windows called Shimeji which allows you to have virtual pets on your desktop.

[@PolygonDonut]

I doubt it because modern technology isn't really known for having personality anymore, they will most likely just have auto-black screen set by default instead of any animations.

[@UNIX32]

@@PolygonDonut Oh, how boring. It's kinda sad in a way. But at least you can still download them. And I think desktop pets might become popular as you have software like Shimeji-ee.

[@fizola88]

You know what was most fun: Windows 98 themes, with custom sounds, startup music, screensavers, everything. I still remember Lion king theme with FULL 1 minute Whimaway Whimaway intro. This should return

[@Rainkit]

There was a period in the early 2010s where some games would be your screensaver. One I played was called Endless Forest. When you wanted to play the game you would wait for your computer to go into screensaver mode and then the game would start.

[@oosha2000]

I remember doing that with diner dash 2, I loved it

[@mystery.mystery.2030]

Your videos are so entertaining and pleasant to watch - each one quickly gets added to my list of Comfort Videos. :)

[@PolygonDonut]

I AM MOST HONORED TO BE IN THE PLAYLIST 🥰🥰🥰

[@user-qjvqfjv]

Pleasant? Are you a masochist? How can you tolerate his obnoxious voice and personality?

[@YouW00t]

Too bad you missed Castaway, that screensaver in particular not only has some lore hidden in it, the story behind it is really interesting. There's a whole video that goes in depth into it, I'd recommend you all to check it out.

[@binarypench]

Man, they really should bring back screensavers. Even if the screens of today are immune to burn-in, screensavers have so much charm!

[@productoftheink]

I finally remembered why I recognized the 3D Text screensaver!!! We used to have that as an option on our school computers in like 2nd grade and I used to sit and watch it instead of doing my work :) (we had Thinkpad computers which sucked ass)

[@AngelCam7]

This was a nice trip down memory lane for me. I had a feeling that Bad Dog cartoon was related to the screensaver. The dog's name was Berkley, the same name as the company behind the screensavers. 😄

[@gelatogurl1]

Bros editing is out of this world 😁

[@screencriminal1973]

At 7:07, when he’s talking about the pipes, he used my art :D

[@PolygonDonut]

YES THANK YOU FOR THE ART ITS VERY CUTE :3

[@epickittymonster4435]

I remember we had our own computers at our grandparents place and we would play a bunch of educational games on them. But I honestly really liked just watching the screensavers. We had a dancing Pikachu one which was my favorite, but I think my grandpa would rotate them out occasionally. I definitely remember a maze one and a pipes one, I just don't think they were the after dark ones

[@g00dbunny]

honestly i love thinking about screensavers like the computer is dreaming. be quiet, little computer is dreaming.

[@91bpatrick]

It was simply so trippy seeing my father use the computer, then when he was out, I would see that the screen was full of all these animations...

[@reallordofmygirl4859]

polygon finally mentioned the frutiger aero aesthetic, now more people can enjoy it

[@aino-kaisav5504]

I feel like the pipes screensaver is a collective nostalgic memory of a certain generation.

[@OfficialFanii]

AAA! ur videos make my brain explode 💥💥💥💥💥 with joy ehehehehe, a lot of my hyperfixations tend to originate from ur videos (like weird core) !!! U discuss topics rlly well and it's fun to watch

[@011mph]

the ones i remember the most are the pipes, the fish tank, and the maze. the maze actually used to scare me for some reason as a kid lol

[@TieZeeGuy235]

This channel is so good! I just sit on my bed, turn this channel on, and eat a microwavable digiorno pizza

[@NightpireVideos]

I'm missing Johnny Castaway, that screensaver told an entire story if you watch all the scenes that randomly play out. Otherwise really cool video man.

[@FinnGreenland]

Pongon makes the best videos in my opinion. They are just so comfortable and fun.

[@PolygonDonut]

THANK YOU SO MUCH

[@Ryboy111]

5:13 me when I get hut by a truck "ow, ow"

[@squidiskool]

proto ooooo

[@Ryboy111]

@@squidiskool yes indeed

[@ThinkingCrimson]

Me when i get my arm erased: "ow, ow"

[@chrissy07girl]

I remember I had one where a guy was stranded on an island. It was sometime in the 90s. Either on windows 95 or 98. I just recall the disk it came on. I would watch that one all day.

[@amandastill5124]

I loved snuggling to sleep with that night light chunked right at my face and watching the roku fish screensaver

[@PSPBobb]

5:00 Bad dog was a cartoon series which featured "bad dog". In every episode, someone says him: "bad dog!", then the dog passes out. It only wakes up again when the same person decides to say "good dog!" to the dog.

[@Isaac-gh5ku]

12:23 I remember that screensaver! I've been trying to search for that for years, but I forgot what it was called. I thought it was called Alien World.

[@NostalgiCrazy]

Damn, I really miss whimsical and creative stuff like this from the 90s and early 00s. It's why they say kids today will never understand how much they missed out on 🥺

[@utopiaa_1775]

i literally just found your channel today but i’m loving ur content omg !! the editing style scratches my brain

[@PolygonDonut]

THANKS!!!!

[@tay-lore]

Honestly, a movie about a group of people trying to escape from the infinite void of the windows xp wallpapers would be SO good!!!

[@RambleyOfficialchannel]

5:14 - BRO IT WAS 8:35 AM AND MY PARENTS WHERE SLEEPING AND I HAD TO HOLD IT IN XD