diff --git a/CHANGES b/CHANGES
index 6a33406ae..6c53e7a39 100644
--- a/CHANGES
+++ b/CHANGES
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ Bugfixes:
  - GBA Memory: Fix alignment of open bus 8- and 16-bit loads
  - GBA Thread: Fix possible hang when loading an archive
  - Perf: Fix crash when the GBA thread fails to start
+ - SDL: Properly clean up if a game doesn't launch
 Misc:
  - GBA Audio: Change internal audio sample buffer from 32-bit to 16-bit samples
  - GBA Memory: Simplify memory API and use fixed bus width
diff --git a/src/platform/sdl/main.c b/src/platform/sdl/main.c
index 50331adb1..e43f65f4f 100644
--- a/src/platform/sdl/main.c
+++ b/src/platform/sdl/main.c
@@ -105,12 +105,17 @@ int main(int argc, char** argv) {
 	GBASDLEventsLoadConfig(&renderer.events, &config.configTable); // TODO: Don't use this directly
 	context.overrides = &config.configTable;
 
-	GBAThreadStart(&context);
+	int didFail = 0;
+	if (GBAThreadStart(&context)) {
+		GBASDLRunloop(&context, &renderer);
+		GBAThreadJoin(&context);
+	} else {
+		didFail = 1;
+		printf("Could not run game. Are you sure the file exists and is a Game Boy Advance game?\n");
+	}
 
-	GBASDLRunloop(&context, &renderer);
-
-	GBAThreadJoin(&context);
 	if (GBAThreadHasCrashed(&context)) {
+		didFail = 1;
 		printf("The game crashed!\n");
 	}
 	freeArguments(&args);
@@ -121,7 +126,7 @@ int main(int argc, char** argv) {
 
 	_GBASDLDeinit(&renderer);
 
-	return 0;
+	return didFail;
 }
 
 static bool _GBASDLInit(struct SDLSoftwareRenderer* renderer) {