I tried to calibrate the Xbox 360 controller in both games, but the result is always the same: the player is unable to shoot diagonally. They can only shoot in 4 basic directions, but unfortunately this isn't good enough to play the games. Is there a way to fix this in DOSBox without having to use a 3rd-party program? I tried the Mapper ability in DOSBox (Ctrl+F1), and I tried setting the .conf files to timed=false and different joystick types, but that did not fix the problem either.

I'm having the same problem-- I got the games off of Steam a while ago and gave up on them, but was hoping maybe there was some slight difference on gog. It's way too hard for me trying to use a keyboard for this game.

I found a fix for this on the steamcommunity forums but... I forget what I did XD
I believe it had something to do with setting the "dead zones" on the pad/sticks but I honestly can't remember
If i can pull up the link I'll edit it in.

Edit: Possible solution from GoG forums ---> http://www.gog.com/forum/earthworm_jim_series/joypad_compatability_problems

I think I just grabbed xpadder myself (even though it says native controller support)

This game just ended up being a total loss for me. I hate playing games with a keyboard - and that's especially true when I have to do it on my Macbook Air.

So I have an app that allows me to bind keys to an Xbox 360 controller. But on this game, I get, "The game is not responding to the controller..." Something like that - even though the app is doing what it's supposed to. Odd, this only happens when the binding app is on.

The "Controller Error" message seems to have to do with the EWJ game being ported to OS X. Duke Nukem 3D and Redneck Rampage does it, too. I can live with just a mouse for those games, though.

So for this reason, I will only attempt to experiment with games on sale.

But if I could get EWJ to pass that little "Calibration Test" within the game's setting, I could overcome any other issues that might come up with the 360 controller.

Until then, though, I won't be playing EWJ...

If you mean an app that allows you to bind keys to your Xbox controller, then there's a bit of bad news - I cannot get an error message about detecting controller input off the screen while using those. I can get the controller to work, but cannot get the message off. It seems to be an artifact from the game being ported to OS X. If I work it out, I'll get back to you...

I think method i discovered long ago and wrote about here http://pinnaclegameprofiler.com/forum/showthread.php?1208-XBox-360-controller-VS-Logitech-Chillstream/page2
may fix diagonal issues in any Dosbox powered game.
Thing is that many old gams and dosbox itself expect square sticks movable range shape, while 360 controller has round, and these rounded corners cuts some range.

Fix i provided at link above allows to re-shape 360 controller in dinput games and software and turn circles into squares .

This old picture by me explains issue: