Back when I lived in Europe in the late 90s/early 00s, Coke Light was Ace K + aspartame. To my memory, Diet Coke did not have Ace K.
That’s likely it; Diet Coke has traditionally only used aspartame as a sweetener in the U.S. On the other hand, Coke Zero, which was introduced in the U.S. 20+ years later, does use the aspartame+Ace-K sweetener combo (which seems to now be the default sweetener system in most of the newer “zero calorie” sodas, at least in the U.S.).
If you drank a half bottle and were still thirsty, I’m not sure if it’s really that terrific as a thirst quencher.
I am still haunted by these two old commercials.
