According to the present invention, a shift control device (50) of an outboard motor (10) comprising an electric shift device (21) for switching the direction of propulsion has a rotation switching part (91) for electrically switching the driving of the outboard motor (10) to regular rotation or counter rotation, and a rotation distinction part (92) for distinguishing whether the outboard motor (10) is being driven for regular rotation or counter rotation. Handling is not complicated and the desired performance can be achieved with an outboard motor for regular rotation and an outboard motor for counter rotation, even when the regular rotation and counter rotation share a common propulsion unit.