A Brief History of the ColecoVision Zaxxon Cartridge Development in 1982

David Megarry

In 1982 David Megarry was part of the development team for the ColecoVision Zaxxon Cartridge. He will explain the history of how the cartridge was programmed, what part he played in the development and answer questions about cartridge creation in the 1980’s. He will bring a working ColecoVision, the listings for the ColecoVision OS, the listings for the Zaxxon cartridge as well as other examples of the ColecoVision development process. At the end of the talk, David will be making a brief announcement of an idea he has for the ColecoVision, seeking the audiences input.

David started playing Avalon Hill’s Blitzkrieg in about 1967 and eventually fell into David Arneson’s basement Napoleonic Campaign in 1968 (he is the Emperor of Austria, so treat him accordingly..;). He designed Dungeon! In the Fall of 1972 (Oct) after almost being drafted into the U.S. Army in the previous September (they threw him out as he was too skinny). He worked briefly for TSR in 1976 as Treasurer, did programming for video consoles (ColecoVision) in the 1980’s, produced data games (Compton’s) in the 1990’s. Ultimately he became a software tester in the medical and process control industries.

He is now retired and is exploring his passions of independent scholarship (physics, math & history) as well as game design.

David has two grown children, Martha and Henry, lives in Minneapolis with his wife, Rose, and two chickens, St. Joan of Arc and Charlotte Corday.

Story Time With Zachary Johnson

Pull up a beanbag and roast some fish-shaped cheese crackers on the fire of the stage lights… it is time for Story Time with stories! Zach Johnson has returned from adventures abroad and domestic bringing tales of games like you’ve never heard nor played before. For approximately 30 minutes, there will be pictures and ramblings about A Maze. / Berlin, JS Conf EU, Signal Conf, Play Date Game Show, and the Electronic Entertainment Expo. Oh, also E3, too.