I'm interested in running this game (and my first speedrun ever for that matter) but I don't have actual hardware. Is there any rules for this besides the obvious? (No frameskipping, save state, etc). I know there can be some lag issues on like the final boss on his flame wall attack but that's the only noticeable instance I can think of. Also should it be done on the US or JP version if emulator is ok?

You can use emulator just fine but make sure the game wont lag try to optimise your emulator config