diff --git a/makepanda/makepanda.py b/makepanda/makepanda.py
index d4879b869f..2fd81b6624 100755
--- a/makepanda/makepanda.py
+++ b/makepanda/makepanda.py
@@ -1658,7 +1658,7 @@ def CompileCxx(obj,src,opts):
                 if optlevel >= 4 or target == "android":
                     cmd += " -fno-rtti"
 
-        if ('SSE2' in opts or not PkgSkip("SSE2")) and not arch.startswith("arm") and arch != 'aarch64':
+        if ('SSE2' in opts or not PkgSkip("SSE2")) and arch.find('86') > 0:
             cmd += " -msse2"
 
         # Needed by both Python, Panda, Eigen, all of which break aliasing rules.