diff --git a/scripts/common.py b/scripts/common.py
index 9309e5d99..7bf60f02e 100644
--- a/scripts/common.py
+++ b/scripts/common.py
@@ -3250,26 +3250,55 @@ def build_target_cores_cache(
     """
     cache: dict[str, set[str] | None] = {}
     skip: list[str] = []
+    notes: list[str] = []
     for p in platforms:
         try:
             cache[p] = load_target_config(p, target, platforms_dir)
         except FileNotFoundError:
             if not is_all:
                 raise
-            print(f"INFO: Skipping {p}: no hardware targets")
+            notes.append(f"INFO: Skipping {p}: no hardware targets")
             skip.append(p)
         except ValueError as e:
             if is_all:
-                print(f"INFO: Skipping {p}: {e}")
+                notes.append(f"INFO: Skipping {p}: {e}")
                 skip.append(p)
             else:
                 raise
     kept = [p for p in platforms if p not in skip]
     if is_all and platforms and not kept:
-        raise ValueError(f"unknown target '{target}': no platform has it")
+        # The seventeen per-platform lines buried the one suggestion that
+        # mattered: the refusal names the closest target across them all.
+        raise ValueError(_unknown_target_message(target, platforms, platforms_dir))
+    for note in notes:
+        print(note)
     return cache, kept
 
 
+def _unknown_target_message(target: str, platforms: list[str], platforms_dir: str) -> str:
+    """A target no platform has, with the closest names any of them knows."""
+    import difflib  # noqa: PLC0415
+
+    targets_dir = os.path.join(platforms_dir, "targets")
+    owners: dict[str, list[str]] = {}
+    for platform in platforms:
+        target_file = os.path.join(targets_dir, f"{platform}.yml")
+        if not os.path.exists(target_file):
+            continue
+        with open(target_file) as f:
+            targets = (yaml_load(f) or {}).get("targets", {})
+        overrides = _target_overrides(platform, targets_dir)
+        for name in _target_alias_index(targets, overrides):
+            owners.setdefault(name, []).append(platform)
+    message = f"unknown target '{target}': no platform has it."
+    close = difflib.get_close_matches(target, sorted(owners), n=3, cutoff=0.6)
+    if close:
+        named = ", ".join(f"{n} ({', '.join(sorted(owners[n]))})" for n in close)
+        return f"{message} Did you mean: {named}?"
+    return (f"{message} python scripts/verify.py --platform <name> --list-targets "
+            "lists the targets of one platform.")
+
+
 # Re-exported so the existing call sites keep working while the
 # modules above become the place to import from.
 from safeparse import (  # noqa: E402,F401
diff --git a/tests/test_tool_messages.py b/tests/test_tool_messages.py
index c478f997a..7f043a22b 100644
--- a/tests/test_tool_messages.py
+++ b/tests/test_tool_messages.py
@@ -85,6 +85,22 @@ class AMistypedTargetGetsTheClosestName(unittest.TestCase):
 
 
 
+class AMistypedTargetAcrossAllPlatforms(unittest.TestCase):
+    """`verify --all --target swich` ended on "no platform has it" after 17
+    INFO lines, two of which held the suggestion."""
+
+    def test_the_refusal_suggests_and_names_the_platforms(self):
+        platforms = common.list_registered_platforms(str(REPO_ROOT / "platforms"))
+        out = io.StringIO()
+        with contextlib.redirect_stdout(out), self.assertRaises(ValueError) as caught:
+            common.build_target_cores_cache(
+                platforms, "swich", str(REPO_ROOT / "platforms"), is_all=True
+            )
+        self.assertIn("Did you mean: switch (", str(caught.exception))
+        self.assertIn("retroarch", str(caught.exception))
+        self.assertEqual(out.getvalue(), "")
+
+
 class AMistypedDataKeyGetsTheClosestName(unittest.TestCase):
     """`--key dolphin-sis` printed all 27 keys on one line."""