diff --git a/frontend/platform/platform_gx.c b/frontend/platform/platform_gx.c
index 3d2c8910b6..d9b4887610 100644
--- a/frontend/platform/platform_gx.c
+++ b/frontend/platform/platform_gx.c
@@ -343,6 +343,11 @@ static int system_process_args(int argc, char *argv[])
 {
    int ret = 0;
 
+   // a big hack: sometimes salamander doesn't save the new core it loads on first boot,
+   // so we make sure g_settings.libretro is set here
+   if (!g_settings.libretro[0] && strrchr(argv[0], '/'))
+      strlcpy(g_settings.libretro, strrchr(argv[0], '/') + 1, sizeof(g_settings.libretro));
+
    if (argc > 2 && argv[1] != NULL && argv[2] != NULL)
    {
       snprintf(g_extern.fullpath, sizeof(g_extern.fullpath),