These version descriptions are in context to speedrunning; differences to characters/mechanics still apply and are to be taken into consideration.

Other Differences that have been documented can be found here http://www.ssbwiki.com/List_of_regional_version_differences_%28SSB%29 And here http://tcrf.net/Super_Smash_Bros./Regional_Differences and here under General Information and Techniques http://smashboards.com/threads/smash-64-index-read-here-first.350305/

N64

N64 is the release of the game with the most console slowdown yet it is still faster than the Virtual Console versions. This is due to a decision made that you have to hear your opponent’s name before advancing to the next stage.

Having the Expansion pack is not important for speedruns.

NTSC-U This release of the game features very aggressive AI and a large amount of lag in a lot of situations (see below).

NTSC-J AI System is different, generally less aggressive than the US release. This was likely patched out due to the lack of cooperation of the teams and/or lack of difficulty on harder difficulties No Congratulations Screen at end of 1 Player Mode

PAL - EU/AU
AI System is a copy of the NTSC-U Different frame rate 50fps vs 60fps seems to have little effect on strategy PAL Character differences are significant

Situations that lag the N64 (for possible version comparison in future): Anything Dying Anything Spawning Killing Multiple Enemies at Once Fire Effects(Master Hand’s Moves, Fire Flower, Charizard, Samus moves) Electricity Effects(Pikachu’s Attacks, Zapdos, Samus Upb) Screen Shaking Effects(DK’s DownB) Screen Transitions Countdown Timer at Beginning of Stages Master Hand in its Entirety More...

VC

All VC versions have less lag than their n64 counterparts due to increased ram decreasing lag spikes

The announcer cannot be skipped until he has said at least most of the name of your opponent(s), this costs a considerable amount of time which makes VC releases slower than any other release. A rough comparison I did can be found here youtube.com/watch?v=0qZ3LaA3_O0

The Virtual Console release is famous in the smash 64 competitive community for frame skipping, the effect of it on speedruns is hard to notice but I believe it probably affects the ingame timer in stages.

Differences from the N64 transferred over to the Virtual Console so the Japanese AI is present on VC-J as an advantage in most categories

IQue Significantly faster, increased RAM nearly eliminating console slowdown The reduction of lag on pokemon make some of them much more helpful in team battles

Emulator Use PJ64 1.6/7