diff --git a/src/drivers/sdl/sdl.cpp b/src/drivers/sdl/sdl.cpp
index c6980fed..c2c1a16b 100644
--- a/src/drivers/sdl/sdl.cpp
+++ b/src/drivers/sdl/sdl.cpp
@@ -496,6 +496,16 @@ void FCEUD_TraceInstruction() {
  */
 int main(int argc, char *argv[])
 {
+  // this is a hackish check for the --help arguemnts
+  // these are normally processed by the config parser, but SDL_Init
+  // must be run before the config parser: so if even SDL_Init fails,
+  // these four lines will still print the help output
+	if( !strcmp(argv[1], "--help") || !strcmp(argv[1],"-h"))
+	{
+	    ShowUsage(argv[0]);
+	    return 0;
+	}
+
 	int error, frameskip;
 
 	FCEUD_Message("Starting "FCEU_NAME_AND_VERSION"...\n");