diff --git a/makefile b/makefile
index 69ddaa37368..a81f44ba4b7 100644
--- a/makefile
+++ b/makefile
@@ -888,7 +888,12 @@ ifndef EXECUTABLE_DEFINED
 $(EMULATOR): $(EMUINFOOBJ) $(DRIVLISTOBJ) $(DRVLIBS) $(LIBOSD) $(LIBBUS) $(LIBOPTIONAL) $(LIBEMU) $(LIBDASM) $(LIBUTIL) $(EXPAT) $(SOFTFLOAT) $(JPEG_LIB) $(FLAC_LIB) $(7Z_LIB) $(FORMATS_LIB) $(LUA_LIB) $(SQLITE3_LIB) $(WEB_LIB) $(ZLIB) $(LIBOCORE) $(MIDI_LIB) $(RESFILE)
 	$(CC) $(CDEFS) $(CFLAGS) -c $(SRC)/version.c -o $(VERSIONOBJ)
 	@echo Linking $@...
+ifeq ($(TARGETOS),emscripten)
+	# Emscripten's linker seems to be stricter about the ordering of .a files
+	$(LD) $(LDFLAGS) $(LDFLAGSEMULATOR) $(VERSIONOBJ) -Wl,--start-group $^ -Wl,--end-group $(LIBS) -o $@
+else
 	$(LD) $(LDFLAGS) $(LDFLAGSEMULATOR) $(VERSIONOBJ) $^ $(LIBS) -o $@
+endif
 ifeq ($(TARGETOS),win32)
 ifdef SYMBOLS
 ifndef MSVC_BUILD