diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index a2b0139269..5741977ec5 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -157,19 +157,19 @@ infoshell = $(foreach line, $(shell $1 | sed "s/ /__SPACE__/g"), $(info $(subst
 ifeq (,$(filter-out all rom compare modern berry_fix libagbsyscall,$(MAKECMDGOALS)))
 $(call infoshell, $(MAKE) -f make_tools.mk)
 else
-NODEP := 1
+NODEP ?= 1
 endif
 
 # check if we need to scan dependencies based on the rule
 ifeq (,$(MAKECMDGOALS))
-  SCAN_DEPS := 1
+  SCAN_DEPS ?= 1
 else
   # clean, tidy, tools, mostlyclean, clean-tools, $(TOOLDIRS), tidymodern, tidynonmodern don't even build the ROM
   # berry_fix and libagbsyscall do their own thing
   ifeq (,$(filter-out clean tidy tools mostlyclean clean-tools $(TOOLDIRS) tidymodern tidynonmodern berry_fix libagbsyscall,$(MAKECMDGOALS)))
-    SCAN_DEPS := 0
+    SCAN_DEPS ?= 0
   else
-    SCAN_DEPS := 1
+    SCAN_DEPS ?= 1
   endif
 endif
 
@@ -365,11 +365,11 @@ ifeq ($(NODEP),1)
 $(C_BUILDDIR)/%.o: $(C_SUBDIR)/%.s
 	$(AS) $(ASFLAGS) -o $@ $<
 else
-define C_ASM_DEP
-$1: $2 $$(shell $(SCANINC) -I "" $2)
-	$$(AS) $$(ASFLAGS) -o $$@ $$<
+define SRC_ASM_DATA_DEP
+$1: $2 $$(shell $(SCANINC) -I include -I "" $2)
+	$$(PREPROC) $$< charmap.txt | $$(CPP) -I include - | $$(AS) $$(ASFLAGS) -o $$@
 endef
-$(foreach src, $(C_ASM_SRCS), $(eval $(call C_ASM_DEP,$(patsubst $(C_SUBDIR)/%.s,$(C_BUILDDIR)/%.o, $(src)),$(src))))
+$(foreach src, $(C_ASM_SRCS), $(eval $(call SRC_ASM_DATA_DEP,$(patsubst $(C_SUBDIR)/%.s,$(C_BUILDDIR)/%.o, $(src)),$(src))))
 endif
 
 ifeq ($(NODEP),1)
@@ -387,12 +387,7 @@ ifeq ($(NODEP),1)
 $(DATA_ASM_BUILDDIR)/%.o: $(DATA_ASM_SUBDIR)/%.s
 	$(PREPROC) $< charmap.txt | $(CPP) -I include - | $(AS) $(ASFLAGS) -o $@
 else
-define DATA_ASM_DEP
-$1: $2 $$(shell $(SCANINC) -I include -I "" $2)
-	$$(PREPROC) $$< charmap.txt | $$(CPP) -I include - | $$(AS) $$(ASFLAGS) -o $$@
-endef
-$(foreach src, $(REGULAR_DATA_ASM_SRCS), $(eval $(call DATA_ASM_DEP,$(patsubst $(DATA_ASM_SUBDIR)/%.s,$(DATA_ASM_BUILDDIR)/%.o, $(src)),$(src))))
-$(foreach src, $(C_ASM_SRCS), $(eval $(call DATA_ASM_DEP,$(patsubst $(C_SUBDIR)/%.s,$(C_BUILDDIR)/%.o, $(src)),$(src))))
+$(foreach src, $(REGULAR_DATA_ASM_SRCS), $(eval $(call SRC_ASM_DATA_DEP,$(patsubst $(DATA_ASM_SUBDIR)/%.s,$(DATA_ASM_BUILDDIR)/%.o, $(src)),$(src))))
 endif
 $(info Scanning deps end $(shell date +%s%3N))
 endif
diff --git a/make_tools.mk b/make_tools.mk
index 82a482bca7..697897a693 100644
--- a/make_tools.mk
+++ b/make_tools.mk
@@ -1,12 +1,11 @@
 
+MAKEFLAGS += --no-print-directory
+
 TOOLDIRS := $(filter-out tools/agbcc tools/binutils,$(wildcard tools/*))
-TOOLBASE = $(TOOLDIRS:tools/%=%)
-TOOLS = $(foreach tool,$(TOOLBASE),tools/$(tool)/$(tool)$(EXE))
 
 .PHONY: all $(TOOLDIRS)
 
 all: $(TOOLDIRS)
-	@:
 
 $(TOOLDIRS):
 	@$(MAKE) -C $@
diff --git a/tools/preproc/preproc.cpp b/tools/preproc/preproc.cpp
index 02950a2963..eb2d4c8a23 100644
--- a/tools/preproc/preproc.cpp
+++ b/tools/preproc/preproc.cpp
@@ -134,7 +134,7 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
 {
     if (argc < 3 || argc > 4)
     {
-        std::fprintf(stderr, "Usage: %s SRC_FILE CHARMAP_FILE [-i]\nwhere -i denotes if input is from stdin", argv[0]);
+        std::fprintf(stderr, "Usage: %s SRC_FILE CHARMAP_FILE [-i]\nwhere -i denotes if input is from stdin\n", argv[0]);
         return 1;
     }