diff --git a/Assets/dll/libmgba.dll.so b/Assets/dll/libmgba.dll.so
index d683605592..17f45d88d6 100644
Binary files a/Assets/dll/libmgba.dll.so and b/Assets/dll/libmgba.dll.so differ
diff --git a/Assets/dll/mgba.dll b/Assets/dll/mgba.dll
index 7194f725f8..a6cfced771 100644
Binary files a/Assets/dll/mgba.dll and b/Assets/dll/mgba.dll differ
diff --git a/src/BizHawk.Emulation.Cores/Consoles/Nintendo/GBA/MGBAHawk.cs b/src/BizHawk.Emulation.Cores/Consoles/Nintendo/GBA/MGBAHawk.cs
index 09305fe6c2..a13a85fa0a 100644
--- a/src/BizHawk.Emulation.Cores/Consoles/Nintendo/GBA/MGBAHawk.cs
+++ b/src/BizHawk.Emulation.Cores/Consoles/Nintendo/GBA/MGBAHawk.cs
@@ -40,7 +40,9 @@ namespace BizHawk.Emulation.Cores.Nintendo.GBA
 				rom,
 				rom.Length,
 				ref overrides,
-				skipBios: _syncSettings.SkipBios);
+				skipBios: _syncSettings.SkipBios && !lp.DeterministicEmulationRequested);
+
+			// the core might ignore our request to run the bios intro if the game cannot boot with the bios intro: that's okay
 
 			if (Core == IntPtr.Zero)
 			{
diff --git a/submodules/mgba b/submodules/mgba
index f59c9650fd..26ea531179 160000
--- a/submodules/mgba
+++ b/submodules/mgba
@@ -1 +1 @@
-Subproject commit f59c9650fd141fd68a9b3f51f7860bb3791aa193
+Subproject commit 26ea5311797656a87ebfcabd55fe295a15e55535