The History Of Nostalgic Screensavers

Back in the early 2000s the peak form of entertainment was watching 3D pipes infinitely generate on the computer screen. So in this video I decided to take a deep dive into the history of these nostalgic screensavers, detailing the most influential screensaver releases, seeing how they developed over the years, and the eventual fall in popularity.

This video took a lot of effort to research and put together, so thank you so much for watching :)
BTW if you want to use old screensavers on modern versions of windows, I downloaded some from this website.
(You just put the .scr file in the system 32 folder and it will be an option in your screensaver settings)
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🎵Music:
Ape Escape 2 ( Gadget Trainer ) Soundtrack OST
Endacopia - By The Fridge
Ape Escape 3 OST - Mount Amazing (Part 2)
Broken Reality - Domo Paradisso Theme
Oliver Buckland - backroom labyrinth
The Elder Scrolls IV - Oblivion Soundtrack - 04 Harvest Dawn
Gex Enter the Gecko OST - Menu
Cosmic Comics C - Snipperclips Plus OST
[Wobbledogs OST] 1 - Chrysalis
Neon White OST - Coin Flip
meow by ivusm
Let Me Be Your Mahou Shoujo
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TABLE OF CONTENTS:
0:00 Intro
0:45 The First Screensavers
1:41 After Dark
3:50 Windows 3.0
4:14 After Dark 3.0 And More
6:38 Windows 95
10:46 After Dark 4.0 And More
12:05 Windows 98 And More
14:17 The Death Of Screensavers
15:56 The Legacy Of Screensavers
16:29 Bonus
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[asderfly]

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.

[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.

[Pisicutabunaziua]

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

[odiug]

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.

[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!

[chonalniejashtinez]

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

[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!

[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!

[GolemOO]

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

[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!

[Sharkpu]

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

[cardomajig]

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

[piekarzpaola]

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

[SjokopandaM-T]

12:53 feels very liminal like actually

[iminyourwalls]

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

[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.

[midnightcinema]

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!

[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.

[huntforbigfloptober]

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

[Killerkraft]

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.