diff --git a/doc/COMPILING.txt b/doc/COMPILING.txt
index fa24cb23..3fff914d 100644
--- a/doc/COMPILING.txt
+++ b/doc/COMPILING.txt
@@ -60,6 +60,9 @@ several layers at a time: You will still be able to edit layered images,
 but you will only see one layer at a time. This option is designed for slow
 platforms, as it makes the program faster.
 
+Compile with NORECOIL=1 to disable support of the RECOIL (REtro COmputer Image
+Library) for loading images. This is advised on memory constrained platforms.
+
 === Other compilation targets ===
   make clean
 Erases all generated files (intermediate objects, and executable)
@@ -199,7 +202,8 @@ Before compilation you have to build all the needed libraries mentioned in requi
 
 To compile a Atari TOS executable, type in
 	make ATARICROSS=1 prefix=/usr/m68k-atari-mint
-You can also add other options like NOTTF,NOLUA,NOLAYERS etc. to enable/disable program features..
+You can also add other options like NOTTF,NOLUA,NOLAYERS,NORECOIL etc. to enable/disable
+program features.
 
 If you don't know how build libraries here's some hints. Please note that prefix path in examples below is valid only under Linux, 
 in case of Cygwin the path will be '/opt/m68k-atari-mint'. There will be no prefix when building on native machine.
diff --git a/src/Makefile b/src/Makefile
index 5e9f2102..c6fbf4c9 100644
--- a/src/Makefile
+++ b/src/Makefile
@@ -522,6 +522,11 @@ else
     LUALABEL =
 endif
 
+#Recoil is optional
+ifdef NORECOIL
+    COPT += -DNORECOIL
+endif
+
 #To enable Joystick emulation of cursor, make USE_JOYSTICK=1 (for input.o)
 #This can be necessary to test cursor code on a PC, but by default for all
 #non-console platforms the joystick is disabled, to avoid reporting
@@ -547,7 +552,9 @@ OBJS = main.o init.o graph.o sdlscreen.o misc.o special.o \
        fileformats.o miscfileformats.o libraw2crtc.o \
        brush_ops.o buttons_effects.o layers.o \
        oldies.o tiles.o colorred.o unicode.o
+ifndef NORECOIL
 OBJS += loadrecoil.o recoil.o
+endif
 OBJ = $(addprefix $(OBJDIR)/,$(OBJS))
 
 SKINS = skin_classic.png skin_modern.png skin_DPaint.png \
diff --git a/src/loadsave.c b/src/loadsave.c
index 15feca19..f9c18ece 100644
--- a/src/loadsave.c
+++ b/src/loadsave.c
@@ -176,7 +176,9 @@ void Load_SDL_Image(T_IO_Context *);
 
 // -- Recoil ----------------------------------------------------------------
 // 8bits and 16bits computer graphics
+#ifndef NORECOIL
 void Load_Recoil_Image(T_IO_Context *);
+#endif
 
 // ENUM     Name  TestFunc LoadFunc SaveFunc PalOnly Comment Layers Ext Exts  
 const T_Format File_formats[] = {
@@ -666,8 +668,10 @@ void Load_image(T_IO_Context *context)
   {
     context->Format = DEFAULT_FILEFORMAT;
     // try with recoil
+#ifndef NORECOIL
     Load_Recoil_Image(context);
     if (File_error)
+#endif
     {
       // Last try: with SDL_image
       Load_SDL_Image(context);