diff --git a/services/wolf.sh b/services/wolf.sh
index 33018bd..c47f559 100644
--- a/services/wolf.sh
+++ b/services/wolf.sh
@@ -227,11 +227,33 @@ _wolf_download_emulator_appimage() {
     [[ "$_get" =~ ^[Yy]$ ]] || return 0
 
     log_info "Fetching latest $_display_name release from GitHub..."
+    # A release can publish AppImages for more than one CPU architecture
+    # (x86_64 and aarch64 both showing up as plain "*.AppImage" assets) with
+    # no guarantee the one this host needs sorts first in the GitHub API's
+    # asset list. Prefer whichever asset's filename actually tags the host's
+    # own architecture; fall back to an asset with no arch tag at all before
+    # ever falling back to "just take the first one".
     local _url
     _url=$(curl -fsSL "https://api.github.com/repos/${_owner_repo}/releases/latest" \
-        | python3 -c "import sys,json; r=json.load(sys.stdin); \
-          print(next((a['browser_download_url'] for a in r['assets'] \
-          if a['name'].endswith('.AppImage')), ''))" 2>/dev/null)
+        | HOST_ARCH="$(uname -m)" python3 -c '
+import sys, json, os
+host = os.environ.get("HOST_ARCH", "")
+arch_tags = {
+    "x86_64": ["x86_64", "amd64", "x64"],
+    "aarch64": ["aarch64", "arm64"],
+    "arm64": ["aarch64", "arm64"],
+}.get(host, [host] if host else [])
+all_arch_tags = ["x86_64", "amd64", "x64", "aarch64", "arm64", "armv7", "armhf", "i386", "i686"]
+def has(name, tags):
+    n = name.lower()
+    return any(t in n for t in tags)
+r = json.load(sys.stdin)
+assets = [a for a in r["assets"] if a["name"].endswith(".AppImage")]
+matching = [a for a in assets if arch_tags and has(a["name"], arch_tags)]
+untagged = [a for a in assets if not has(a["name"], all_arch_tags)]
+pick = matching or untagged or assets
+print(pick[0]["browser_download_url"] if pick else "")
+' 2>/dev/null)
     if [[ -z "$_url" ]]; then
         log_warning "Could not resolve download URL — get it manually from https://github.com/${_owner_repo}/releases"
         return 1
@@ -241,7 +263,26 @@ _wolf_download_emulator_appimage() {
         && chmod +x "$_file" \
         && chown "$ACTUAL_USER:$ACTUAL_USER" "$_file" \
         && log_success "$_display_name downloaded: $_file" \
-        || log_warning "Download failed — get it manually from https://github.com/${_owner_repo}/releases"
+        || { log_warning "Download failed — get it manually from https://github.com/${_owner_repo}/releases"; return 1; }
+
+    # Belt-and-suspenders: the filename-based preference above can't help
+    # when a release tags no architecture in the name at all, so verify the
+    # actual ELF header matches this host post-download. Confirmed live: a
+    # wrong-arch AppImage downloads with no error and no visible symptom
+    # until launch time, where it fails as a bare "exec format error" with
+    # nothing pointing back at the cause.
+    local _got_arch
+    _got_arch=$(file -b "$_file" 2>/dev/null)
+    case "$(uname -m)" in
+        x86_64)
+            echo "$_got_arch" | grep -qi 'x86-64\|x86_64' || \
+                log_warning "$_file doesn't look like an x86_64 build ($_got_arch) — it will fail with 'exec format error'. Grab the x86_64 asset by hand from https://github.com/${_owner_repo}/releases"
+            ;;
+        aarch64|arm64)
+            echo "$_got_arch" | grep -qi 'aarch64\|arm64' || \
+                log_warning "$_file doesn't look like an aarch64 build ($_got_arch) — it may fail to run. Grab the aarch64 asset by hand from https://github.com/${_owner_repo}/releases"
+            ;;
+    esac
 }
 
 install_wolf() {