diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 8b455b21bc..d36a7e4b78 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1343,17 +1343,20 @@ else()
 			SDL/SDLVulkanGraphicsContext.cpp
 		)
 	endif()
-	if(SDL2_ttf_FOUND OR SDL2_ttf_PKGCONFIG_FOUND)
+	if(SDL2_ttf_FOUND OR
+		(SDL2_ttf_PKGCONFIG_FOUND AND
+		 SDL2_ttf_PKGCONFIG_VERSION VERSION_GREATER_EQUAL "2.0.18"))
 		add_definitions(-DUSE_SDL2_TTF)
 		if(FONTCONFIG_FOUND)
 			add_definitions(-DUSE_SDL2_TTF_FONTCONFIG)
 			set(nativeExtraLibs ${nativeExtraLibs} Fontconfig::Fontconfig)
 		endif()
+	elseif(SDL2_ttf_PKGCONFIG_FOUND)
+		message(WARNING "Found SDL2_ttf <2.0.18 - this is too old, falling back to atlas")
 	endif()
 	if(SDL2_ttf_FOUND)
 		set(nativeExtraLibs ${nativeExtraLibs} SDL2_ttf::SDL2_ttf)
 	elseif(SDL2_ttf_PKGCONFIG_FOUND)
-		add_definitions(-DUSE_SDL2_TTF_PKGCONFIG)
 		set(nativeExtraLibs ${nativeExtraLibs} PkgConfig::SDL2_ttf_PKGCONFIG)
 	endif()
 	if(APPLE)
diff --git a/Common/Render/Text/draw_text_sdl.cpp b/Common/Render/Text/draw_text_sdl.cpp
index 8a4178d71a..4948583556 100644
--- a/Common/Render/Text/draw_text_sdl.cpp
+++ b/Common/Render/Text/draw_text_sdl.cpp
@@ -378,7 +378,7 @@ void TextDrawerSDL::DrawStringBitmap(std::vector<uint8_t> &bitmapData, TextStrin
 		font = fallbackFonts_[0];
 	}
 
-#ifndef USE_SDL2_TTF_PKGCONFIG
+#if SDL_TTF_VERSION_ATLEAST(2, 20, 0)
 	if (align & ALIGN_HCENTER)
 		TTF_SetFontWrappedAlign(font, TTF_WRAPPED_ALIGN_CENTER);
 	else if (align & ALIGN_RIGHT)