It sounds like you may be remembering VBE display modes.[1] I think you can still play with these modes by adding `nomodeset vga=ask` to the kernel parameters[2] if you are booting with BIOS (or UEFI with CSM).

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VESA_BIOS_Extensions

[2]: https://docs.kernel.org/admin-guide/svga.html