What do you mean 90s! Here's one this year's winning 32 byte demo from rrrola: https://parkertomatoes.github.io/demo-parade/?which=96021 Here's one this year's winning 256 byte demo being presented: https://youtu.be/2p5HCTUNgfU?t=535

Basically, once it is 256 bytes or less, DOS is one of the few options you have left, everything else would need more than that in headers/symbols.