tl;dr - what basic software and hardware would I need to practice with savestates?

Hi all-

I'm new to the site and just discovering the Speedrun community. I had a lot of fun for a few months back in 2008 speedrunning through Super Mario Bros. on the Wii Virtual Console.

My interest is renewed, and I want to practice from some savestates that I've been reading about.

My question: what's a basic setup for practice? My guess is PC, fceux emulator, an SMB rom (that I saw a sticky thread for), and an nes controller that would go into the PC.

Is that accurate? Are there other items?

Also, any recommendations on an NES controller for the PC?

Thanks in advance.