diff --git a/src/fieldmap.c b/src/fieldmap.c
index 1c792cb10e..dbda92b2f7 100644
--- a/src/fieldmap.c
+++ b/src/fieldmap.c
@@ -881,7 +881,7 @@ static void LoadTilesetPalette(struct Tileset const *tileset, u16 destOffset, u1
         {
             // LoadPalette(&black, destOffset, 2);
             if (skipFaded)
-                CpuFastCopy(tileset->palettes, &gPlttBufferUnfaded[destOffset], size);
+                CpuFastCopy(tileset->palettes, &gPlttBufferUnfaded[destOffset], size); // always word-aligned
             else
                 LoadPaletteFast(tileset->palettes, destOffset, size);
             gPlttBufferFaded[destOffset] = gPlttBufferUnfaded[destOffset] = RGB_BLACK; // why does it have to be black?
@@ -891,10 +891,14 @@ static void LoadTilesetPalette(struct Tileset const *tileset, u16 destOffset, u1
         }
         else if (tileset->isSecondary == TRUE)
         {
-            // (void*) is to silence 'source potentially unaligned' error
-            // All 'gTilesetPalettes_' arrays should have ALIGNED(4) in them
+            // All 'gTilesetPalettes_' arrays should have ALIGNED(4) in them,
+            // but we use SmartCopy here just in case they don't
             if (skipFaded)
-                CpuFastCopy((void*)tileset->palettes[NUM_PALS_IN_PRIMARY], &gPlttBufferUnfaded[destOffset], size);
+                #ifdef CpuSmartCopy16
+                CpuSmartCopy16(tileset->palettes[NUM_PALS_IN_PRIMARY], &gPlttBufferUnfaded[destOffset], size);
+                #else
+                CpuCopy16(tileset->palettes[NUM_PALS_IN_PRIMARY], &gPlttBufferUnfaded[destOffset], size);
+                #endif
             else
                 LoadPaletteFast(tileset->palettes[NUM_PALS_IN_PRIMARY], destOffset, size);
             low = NUM_PALS_IN_PRIMARY;