diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index ea6e00fb6..ff18771a9 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -3,10 +3,11 @@
 include config.mk
 include filesystem.mk
 
-HOSTCC := $(CC)
-HOSTCXX := $(CXX)
+HOSTCC = $(CC)
+HOSTCXX = $(CXX)
 HOSTCFLAGS = $(CFLAGS)
 HOSTCXXFLAGS = $(CXXFLAGS)
+HOST_VARS := CC=$(HOSTCC) CXX=$(HOSTCXX) CFLAGS='$(HOSTCFLAGS)' CXXFLAGS='$(HOSTCXXFLAGS)'
 
 .PHONY: clean tidy all default patch_mwasmarm
 
@@ -219,7 +220,7 @@ infoshell = $(foreach line, $(shell $1 | sed "s/ /__SPACE__/g"), $(info $(subst
 # Build tools when building the rom
 # Disable dependency scanning for clean/tidy/tools
 ifeq (,$(filter-out all,$(MAKECMDGOALS)))
-$(call infoshell, $(MAKE) tools patch_mwasmarm)
+$(call infoshell, $(HOST_VARS) $(MAKE) tools patch_mwasmarm)
 else
 NODEP := 1
 endif
@@ -256,7 +257,7 @@ tidy:
 tools: $(TOOLDIRS)
 
 $(TOOLDIRS):
-	@$(MAKE) -C $@
+	@$(HOST_VARS) $(MAKE) -C $@
 
 $(MWASMARM): patch_mwasmarm
 	@:
diff --git a/tools/jsonproc/Makefile b/tools/jsonproc/Makefile
index 721da1025..622f00abf 100644
--- a/tools/jsonproc/Makefile
+++ b/tools/jsonproc/Makefile
@@ -1,5 +1,3 @@
-CXX := g++
-
 CXXFLAGS := -Wall -std=c++11 -O2
 
 INCLUDES := -I .
diff --git a/tools/knarc/Makefile b/tools/knarc/Makefile
index 2e851af6c..62af834fa 100644
--- a/tools/knarc/Makefile
+++ b/tools/knarc/Makefile
@@ -1,5 +1,3 @@
-CXX := g++
-
 CXXFLAGS := -std=c++17 -O2 -Wall -Wno-switch -lstdc++fs
 
 SRCS := Source.cpp Narc.cpp
diff --git a/tools/narccomp/Makefile b/tools/narccomp/Makefile
index b484e7a13..6b404f32d 100644
--- a/tools/narccomp/Makefile
+++ b/tools/narccomp/Makefile
@@ -1,4 +1,3 @@
-CXX = g++
 CXXFLAGS := -O3 -std=c++11
 
 .PHONY: all clean
diff --git a/tools/scaninc/Makefile b/tools/scaninc/Makefile
index 1516f159c..6168acd64 100644
--- a/tools/scaninc/Makefile
+++ b/tools/scaninc/Makefile
@@ -1,5 +1,3 @@
-CXX = g++
-
 CXXFLAGS = -Wall -Werror -std=c++11 -O2
 
 SRCS = scaninc.cpp c_file.cpp asm_file.cpp source_file.cpp