Games List & Control Summaries
I had never heard of most of the games included on the 60 in 1 board. As shown below, I compiled a list of all the games and researched how each game played and how the game's original control panel setup compared with my available controls. If there's a logic to how the list is ordered, I don't know what it is.
Soft DIP Switch Settings: Within the 60 in 1's Test Menu are "soft" DIP switches for each game. The switches mostly correspond to the physical or "hard" DIP switches that would have appeared on the original individual game boards. By default, the 60 in 1 comes with all soft DIP switches set to OFF. As such, there was virtually no consistency between games. For example, some games gave five lives while others had only two.
I set all games to three lives because that's what I remembered from the old days and because I don't have the patience to suck for five lives. Sucking for three lives is good enough.
My initial intent was to set each game to its factory recommended settings, but my research was hit and miss. So I pretty much set each game to whatever looked like the easiest settings available. The meaning of a few settings was not obvious to me and may require more research and testing.
Controls: Finding an image and description of each original control panel was not always easy. Some games appear to be quite obscure. Other games may have been produced in multiple versions and/or as multiple conversion kits and/or as multiple multicades.
My control panel includes a joystick, three buttons (S1-S3) and a trackball. I have an easily convertible joystick, but usually leave the restrictor plate configured as a 4-way. But I can still hit the diagonals even with the restrictor plate turned to its 4-way configuration. So it's still possible (if a bit awkward) to play the 8-way games. All games (except the two 1943 games) can be played by two people in an alternating format which works with my single set of controls.
Tip: The trackball is a great tool for quickly scrolling through the 60 game menu.
The information below should be considered preliminary at best. An asterisk (*) indicates a game I've spent some time playing and can more or less verify what's written.
*1) Ms. Pac-Man: The game is intended to be played with a 4-way joystick. The game works well with my 4-way joystick.
*2) Galaga: The game is intended to be played with a 2-way (left/right) joystick and one "Fire" button. The game works well with my 4-way joystick and S1 button. I enabled the "Continuous Shooting" setting which kind of spoiled me for the other Galaxian-type games.
*3) Frogger: The game is intended to be played with a 4-way joystick. The game works well with my 4-way joystick.
*4) Donkey Kong: The game is intended to be played with a 4-way joystick and one "Jump" button. The game works well with my 4-way joystick and S1 button.
*5) Donkey Kong Junior: The game is intended to be played with a 4-way joystick and one "Jump" button. The game works well with my 4-way joystick and S1 button.
*6) Donkey Kong 3: The game is intended to be played with a 4-way joystick and one "Spray" button. The game works well with my 4-way joystick and S1 button.
*7) Galaxian: The game is intended to be played with a 2-way (left/right) joystick and one "Fire" button. The game works well with my 4-way joystick and S1 button.
*8) Dig Dug: The game is intended to be played with a 4-way joystick and ambidextrous "Pump" buttons. The game works well with my 4-way joystick and S1 button.
*9) Crush Roller: The game is intended to be played with a 4-way joystick. The game works well with my 4-way joystick.
10) Mr. Do!: The game is intended to be played with a 4-way joystick and one "Power Ball" or throw button. The game works well with my 4-way joystick and S1 button.
*11) Space Invaders: The game is intended to be played with left, right and "Fire" buttons or with a 2-way (left/right) joystick and one "Fire" button. The game works well with my 4-way joystick and S1 button.
*12) Pac-Man: The game is intended to be played with a 4-way joystick. The game works well with my 4-way joystick.
*13) Galaga 3: The game is intended to be played with an 8-way joystick and ambidextrous "Fire" buttons. The game works okay with my 4-way joystick and S1 button.
*14) Gyruss: The game is intended to be played with an 8-way joystick and one "Fire" button. The game works okay with my 4-way joystick and S1 button. Gyruss is the 60 in 1's only "tube shooter" format and I'm thinking that a circular restrictor plate on the joystick would be well suited. Gyruss appears to be the only 60 in 1 game with two-channel sound, but also suffers from the infamous 60 in 1 distortion.
15) Tank Battalion: The game is intended to be played with a 4-way joystick and one "Fire" button. The game works well with my 4-way joystick and S1 button.
16) 1942: The game is intended to be played with an 8-way joystick and a pair of ambidextrous "Loop" and "Fire" buttons. The game works okay with my 4-way joystick and S1-S2 buttons.
17) Lady Bug: The game is intended to be played with a 4-way joystick. The game works well with my 4-way joystick.
18) BurgerTime: The game is intended to be played with a 4-way joystick and ambidextrous "Pepper" buttons. The game works well with my 4-way joystick and S1 button.
19) Mappy: The game is intended to be played with a 2-way (left/right) joystick and ambidextrous "Door" buttons. The game works well with my 4-way joystick and S1 button.
*20) Centipede: The game is intended to be played with a trackball and one "Fire" button. The game works well with my trackball and S1 button. The game is playable with my joystick, but feels much more precise and intuitive with my trackball.
*21) Millipede: The game is intended to be played with a trackball and one "Fire" button. The game works well with my trackball and S1 button. The game is playable with my joystick, but feels much more precise and intuitive with my trackball.
*22) JR Pac-Man: The game is intended to be played with a 4-way joystick. The game works well with my 4-way joystick.
23) Pengo: The game is intended to be played with a 4-way joystick and ambidextrous "Push" buttons. The game works well with my 4-way joystick and S1 button.
*24) Phoenix: The game is intended to be played with four buttons: left, right, "Fire" and "Force Field". The game works well with my 4-way joystick and S1-S2 buttons. I remember this game from my childhood Atari 2600. Phoenix is probably my favorite of the "Galaxian-type" games.
25) Time Pilot: The game is intended to be played with an 8-way joystick and one "Fire" button. The game works okay with my 4-way joystick and S1 button.
26) Super Cobra: The game is intended to be played with an 8-way? joystick and a pair of ambidextrous "Bombs" and "Missile" buttons. The game works okay with my 4-way joystick and S1-S2 buttons.
27) Video Hustler: The game is intended to be played with three buttons: left, right and "Shoot". The game works well with my 4-way joystick and S1 button.
28) Space Panic: The game is intended to be played with a 4-way joystick and two buttons: "Holing" and "Closing". The game works well with my 4-way joystick and S1-S2 buttons.
*29) Super Breakout: The game is intended to be played with a three-way selector knob, a "Serve" button and a spinner. My joystick is slow and ineffective. But the game works okay with my trackball and S1-S3 buttons. Buttons S1-S3 initially select Progressive, Cavity and Double, respectively. Subsequently, button S1 is "Serve". Actually, I haven't quite figured this out. If I press S1 to Serve, it just goes back to Progressive. But the selection window times out after a few seconds and the game serves on its own. Perhaps it's the lack of a real spinner, but the game is frustratingly difficult. It's much more fun to just go play Arkanoid.
*30) New Rally X: The game is intended to be played with a 4-way joystick and ambidextrous "Smoke Screen" buttons. The game works well with my 4-way joystick and S1 button.
*31) Arkanoid: The game is intended to be played with a spinner and ambidextrous "Serve/Fire" buttons. The game works okay with my trackball and S1 button.
*32) Qix: The game is intended to be played with a 4-way joystick and two buttons: "Fast Draw" and "Slow Draw". The game works well with my 4-way joystick and S1-S2 buttons. I remember playing this one on occasion at my neighborhood Turkey Hill.
*33) Juno First: The game is intended to be played with an 8-way joystick and a pair of ambidextrous "Fire" and "Warp" buttons. The game works okay with my 4-way joystick and S1-S2 buttons.
34) Xevious: The game is intended to be played with an 8-way joystick and a pair of ambidextrous "Blaster" and "Zapper" buttons. The game works okay with my 4-way joystick and S1-S2 buttons.
35) Mr. Do's Castle: The game is intended to be played with a 4-way joystick and one "Hammer" button. The game works well with my 4-way joystick and S1 button.
36) Moon Cresta: The game is intended to be played with left, right and "Fire" buttons or with a 2-way (left/right) joystick and one "Fire" button. The game works well with my 4-way joystick and S1 button.
*37) Pinball Action: The game appears to have been offered in a conventional-looking scaled-down pinball machine cabinet with controls in the expected locations. More commonly, the game appears to have been offered as a conversion including, not a control panel, but a control enclosure to accommodate side flipper buttons. Apparently the game is intended to be played with one button per side for the left and right flippers and two ambidextrous top buttons for "Start/Shake" (plunging and nudging). The 60 in 1's version of Pinball Action has four "Mode" options within the soft DIP switch settings. I selected Mode 2 because it's the only mode where the flippers are controlled by buttons (S1 and S2) as opposed to joystick movements. Mode 2 leaves the joystick for shoot (up/down) and shake (left/right). On one hand, this is the most interesting game to me because I like pinball. On the other hand, it pretty much sucks when you have a collection of the real thing.
38) Scramble: The game is intended to be played with an 8-way? joystick and a pair of ambidextrous "Laser" and "Bombs" buttons. The game works okay with my 4-way joystick and S1-S2 buttons.
39) Super Pac-Man: The game is intended to be played with a 4-way joystick and ambidextrous "Super Speed" buttons. The game works well with my 4-way joystick and S1 button.
40) Bomb Jack: The game is intended to be played with an 8-way joystick and one "Jump" button. The game works okay with my 4-way joystick and S1 button.
41) Shao-lin's Road: The game is intended to be played with an 4-way joystick and a pair of ambidextrous "Attack" and "Jump" buttons. The game works well with my 4-way joystick and S1-S2 buttons. This is the only "beat 'em up" type game on the 60 in 1.
*42) King and Balloon: The game is intended to be played with a 2-way (left/right) joystick and ambidextrous "Fire" buttons. The game works well with my 4-way joystick and S1 button. The 60 in 1's only talking game? A fun twist on the old Space Invaders format.
43) 1943: The Battle of Midway: The game is intended to be played by one player or jointly by two players. Each player is intended to have an 8-way joystick and "Fire" and "Loop" buttons. The game works okay for single play only with my 4-way joystick and S1-S2 buttons.
44) Van-Van Car: The game is intended to be played with an 4-way joystick and one "Jump/Fire" button. The game works well with my 4-way joystick and S1 button. This appears to be an obscure conversion game and I have yet to find an image of an original control panel.
*45) Pac-Man Plus: The game is intended to be played with a 4-way joystick. The game works well with my 4-way joystick.
46) Dig Dug II: The game is intended to be played with an 4-way joystick and a pair of ambidextrous "Pump" and "Drill" buttons. The game works well with my 4-way joystick and S1-S2 buttons.
47) Amidar: The game is intended to be played with a 4-way joystick and ambidextrous "Jump" buttons. The game works well with my 4-way joystick and S1 button.
48) Zaxxon: The game is intended to be played with a 4-way? joystick and ambidextrous "Fire" buttons plus a third "Fire" trigger button on the stick. The game works well with my 4-way joystick and S1 button.
49) Pooyan: The game is intended to be played with a 2-way (up/down) joystick and ambidextrous "Fire" buttons. The game works well with my 4-way joystick and S1 button.
50) Pleiades: The game is intended to be played with four buttons: left, right, "Warp" and "Fire". The game works well with my 4-way joystick and S1-S2 buttons.
51) Gun.Smoke: The game is intended to be played with an 8-way joystick and an ambidextrous set of three "Shoot" buttons. The game works okay with my 4-way joystick and S1-S3 buttons. The chart below shows how the three buttons can be used in combinations for different directions of fire.
52) The End: The game is intended to be played with three buttons: left, right and "Fire". The game works well with my 4-way joystick and S1 button.
53) 1943 Kai: The game is intended to be played by one player or jointly by two players. Each player is intended to have an 8-way joystick and "Fire" and "Loop" buttons. The game works okay for single play only with my 4-way joystick and S1-S2 buttons.
*54) Congo Bongo: The game is intended to be played with a diagonally oriented 4-way joystick (think Q*bert) and ambidextrous "Jump" buttons. The game pretty much sucks with my conventionally oriented 4-way joystick and S1 button. I'm thinking that Congo Bongo is the least playable game with my available controls. A practiced player could probably make do with my conventionally oriented joystick, but I quickly get killed before making any progress.
55) Jumping Jack: The game is intended to be played with a 4-way joystick and one "Jump" button. The game works well with my 4-way joystick and S1 button.
56) Ms. Pac-Man (2):
57) Galaga (2):
58) Pac-Man (2):
59) Jr. Pac-Man (2):
60) Pac-Man Plus (2):
Some would argue that the 60 in 1 is really a 55 in 1 because the last five games are duplicates. I believe their purpose is to allow two different configurations for five of the more popular games. For example, the first Ms. Pac-Man could be configured to play easy and the duplicate Ms. Pac-Man could be configure to play hard. I simply disabled the last five games, which allows the 60 in 1 board to power up a bit more quickly.