diff --git a/launcher-package/integration-test/src/test/scala/RunnerScriptTest.scala b/launcher-package/integration-test/src/test/scala/RunnerScriptTest.scala
index 5902615a4..323f7312b 100644
--- a/launcher-package/integration-test/src/test/scala/RunnerScriptTest.scala
+++ b/launcher-package/integration-test/src/test/scala/RunnerScriptTest.scala
@@ -129,6 +129,32 @@ object RunnerScriptTest extends verify.BasicTestSuite with ShellScriptUtil:
     assert(out.mkString(System.lineSeparator()).trim.matches(expectedVersion))
     ()
 
+  testOutput(
+    "sbt --version should work (sbt 1.x project)",
+    citestVariant = "citest",
+  )("--version"): (out: List[String]) =>
+    val output = out.mkString(System.lineSeparator())
+    assert(
+      output.contains("sbt version in this project:") ||
+        output.contains("sbtVersion")
+    )
+    assert(output.contains("sbt runner version:"))
+    assert(!output.contains("failed to connect to server"))
+    ()
+
+  testOutput(
+    "sbt --version should work (sbt 2.x project)",
+    citestVariant = "citest2",
+  )("--version"): (out: List[String]) =>
+    val output = out.mkString(System.lineSeparator())
+    assert(
+      output.contains("sbt version in this project:") ||
+        output.contains("sbtVersion")
+    )
+    assert(output.contains("sbt runner version:"))
+    assert(!output.contains("failed to connect to server"))
+    ()
+
   testOutput("--sbt-cache")("--sbt-cache", "./cachePath"): (out: List[String]) =>
     assert(out.contains[String]("-Dsbt.global.localcache=./cachePath"))
 
diff --git a/launcher-package/src/universal/bin/sbt.bat b/launcher-package/src/universal/bin/sbt.bat
index 867df3308..8d76e17a7 100755
--- a/launcher-package/src/universal/bin/sbt.bat
+++ b/launcher-package/src/universal/bin/sbt.bat
@@ -617,7 +617,7 @@ if !sbt_args_print_sbt_script_version! equ 1 (
   goto :eof
 )
 
-if !run_native_client! equ 1 (
+if !run_native_client! equ 1 if not defined sbt_args_print_version (
   goto :runnative !SBT_ARGS!
   goto :eof
 )
diff --git a/sbt b/sbt
index 308826604..c57c5b55c 100755
--- a/sbt
+++ b/sbt
@@ -909,7 +909,7 @@ if [[ $print_sbt_script_version ]]; then
   exit 0
 fi
 
-if [[ "$(isRunNativeClient)" == "true" ]]; then
+if [[ "$(isRunNativeClient)" == "true" ]] && [[ -z "$print_version" ]]; then
   set -- "${residual_args[@]}"
   argumentCount=$#
   runNativeClient