diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/SDL_compat/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/SDL_compat/default.nix
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..2ba0a095f688
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/SDL_compat/default.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+{ lib
+, stdenv
+, fetchFromGitHub
+, cmake
+, pkg-config
+, SDL2
+, libGLSupported ? lib.elem stdenv.hostPlatform.system lib.platforms.mesaPlatforms
+, openglSupport ? libGLSupported
+, libGL
+, libGLU
+}:
+
+let
+  inherit (lib) optionals makeLibraryPath;
+
+in
+stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
+  pname = "SDL_compat";
+  version = "1.2.52";
+
+  src = fetchFromGitHub {
+    owner = "libsdl-org";
+    repo = "sdl12-compat";
+    rev = "release-" + version;
+    hash = "sha256-PDGlMI8q74JaqMQ5oX9Zt5CEr7frFQWECbuwq5g25eg=";
+  };
+
+  nativeBuildInputs = [ cmake pkg-config ];
+
+  propagatedBuildInputs = [ SDL2 ]
+    ++ optionals openglSupport [ libGL libGLU ];
+
+  enableParallelBuilding = true;
+
+  setupHook = ../SDL/setup-hook.sh;
+
+  postFixup = ''
+    for lib in $out/lib/*.so* ; do
+      if [[ -L "$lib" ]]; then
+        patchelf --set-rpath "$(patchelf --print-rpath $lib):${makeLibraryPath propagatedBuildInputs}" "$lib"
+      fi
+    done
+  '';
+
+  meta = with lib; {
+    description = "A cross-platform multimedia library - build SDL 1.2 applications against 2.0";
+    homepage = "https://www.libsdl.org/";
+    license = licenses.zlib;
+    maintainers = with maintainers; [ peterhoeg ];
+    platforms = platforms.all;
+  };
+}
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index 0f4597100d21..c5eb06ce8478 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -20436,13 +20436,17 @@ with pkgs;
     autoreconfHook = buildPackages.autoreconfHook269;
   };
 
-  SDL = callPackage ../development/libraries/SDL ({
+  SDL_classic = callPackage ../development/libraries/SDL ({
     inherit (darwin.apple_sdk.frameworks) OpenGL CoreAudio CoreServices AudioUnit Kernel Cocoa GLUT;
   } // lib.optionalAttrs stdenv.hostPlatform.isAndroid {
     # libGLU doesn’t work with Android’s SDL
     libGLU = null;
   });
 
+  SDL_compat = callPackage ../development/libraries/SDL_compat { };
+
+  SDL = SDL_classic;
+
   SDL_audiolib = callPackage ../development/libraries/SDL_audiolib { };
 
   SDL_sixel = callPackage ../development/libraries/SDL_sixel { };