[0xbadcafebee]

Yet games with 10x the bandwidth struggle to support that many enemies. It only just occurred to me: an increase of technological resources actually has a reversing effect on the efficiency and creativity of computer science. As bandwidth, storage, memory and compute has gotten bigger, there is an inverse response in the software that makes it slower, more bloated, and less capable, per discrete unit of resource. Call it the Benjamin Button software design effect

[shultays]

Do you have a number for "that many enemies"? If article is giving one, I couldn't find it. There are plenty of modern games that is multiplayer and supports enemy numbers that I would consider "massive". Or massive number of players if that is that matters.

[albrewer]

I played it last night. There would be maybe a couple dozen enemies on screen. Which, for a dial-up connection, is a massive amount to communicate about in real time. The fights are structured such that it feels like 5x that amount, though.

[MoOmer]

Better known colloquially as software bloat!

[account42]

Yes, this is known as Wirth's law.