diff --git a/makefile b/makefile
index 741ad490856..679925826b8 100644
--- a/makefile
+++ b/makefile
@@ -474,6 +474,9 @@ endif
 # define MAME_DEBUG if we are a debugging build
 ifdef DEBUG
 DEFS += -DMAME_DEBUG
+ifdef FASTDEBUG
+DEFS += -DMAME_DEBUG_FAST
+endif
 else
 DEFS += -DNDEBUG 
 endif
@@ -498,10 +501,6 @@ ifneq ($(BUILD_JPEGLIB),1)
 DEFS += -DUSE_SYSTEM_JPEGLIB
 endif
 
-ifdef FASTDEBUG
-DEFS += -DMAME_DEBUG_FAST
-endif
-
 # To support casting in Lua 5.3
 DEFS += -DLUA_COMPAT_APIINTCASTS