diff --git a/build-debug b/build-debug
index 648e59bb1..e7a900876 100755
--- a/build-debug
+++ b/build-debug
@@ -1,5 +1,12 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 
+# allow 32-bit on 64-bit (x86) builds
+if [ "$1" == "32" ]; then
+    export CC=`which gcc`" -m32"
+    export CXX=`which g++`" -m32"
+    shift
+fi
+
 # Jonathan C dev hack: refer to LNKDOS16 in /usr/src/doslib
 doslib=
 if [ -d /usr/src/doslib ]; then doslib=/usr/src/doslib; fi
diff --git a/build-debug-g3 b/build-debug-g3
index a3e2afac0..100bc9ab4 100755
--- a/build-debug-g3
+++ b/build-debug-g3
@@ -1,5 +1,12 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 
+# allow 32-bit on 64-bit (x86) builds
+if [ "$1" == "32" ]; then
+    export CC=`which gcc`" -m32"
+    export CXX=`which g++`" -m32"
+    shift
+fi
+
 # I'm sick and tired of all the churn the three versions of autoconf
 # are causing in this repo. Stop committing the configure scripts
 # and just autoregen.
diff --git a/build-debug-g3-sdl2 b/build-debug-g3-sdl2
index 5deecfa65..6ed790803 100755
--- a/build-debug-g3-sdl2
+++ b/build-debug-g3-sdl2
@@ -1,5 +1,12 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 
+# allow 32-bit on 64-bit (x86) builds
+if [ "$1" == "32" ]; then
+    export CC=`which gcc`" -m32"
+    export CXX=`which g++`" -m32"
+    shift
+fi
+
 # I'm sick and tired of all the churn the three versions of autoconf
 # are causing in this repo. Stop committing the configure scripts
 # and just autoregen.
diff --git a/build-debug-no-avcodec b/build-debug-no-avcodec
index 91c870f79..bf0da2019 100755
--- a/build-debug-no-avcodec
+++ b/build-debug-no-avcodec
@@ -1,5 +1,12 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 
+# allow 32-bit on 64-bit (x86) builds
+if [ "$1" == "32" ]; then
+    export CC=`which gcc`" -m32"
+    export CXX=`which g++`" -m32"
+    shift
+fi
+
 # I'm sick and tired of all the churn the three versions of autoconf
 # are causing in this repo. Stop committing the configure scripts
 # and just autoregen.
diff --git a/build-debug-no-mt32 b/build-debug-no-mt32
index 34826a103..7a8782863 100755
--- a/build-debug-no-mt32
+++ b/build-debug-no-mt32
@@ -1,5 +1,12 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 
+# allow 32-bit on 64-bit (x86) builds
+if [ "$1" == "32" ]; then
+    export CC=`which gcc`" -m32"
+    export CXX=`which g++`" -m32"
+    shift
+fi
+
 # I'm sick and tired of all the churn the three versions of autoconf
 # are causing in this repo. Stop committing the configure scripts
 # and just autoregen.
diff --git a/build-debug-sdl2 b/build-debug-sdl2
index e39cc6bee..273a7d261 100755
--- a/build-debug-sdl2
+++ b/build-debug-sdl2
@@ -1,5 +1,12 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 
+# allow 32-bit on 64-bit (x86) builds
+if [ "$1" == "32" ]; then
+    export CC=`which gcc`" -m32"
+    export CXX=`which g++`" -m32"
+    shift
+fi
+
 # I'm sick and tired of all the churn the three versions of autoconf
 # are causing in this repo. Stop committing the configure scripts
 # and just autoregen.