"Top 4" videos (showing the top 4 runs in a race-like setting against each other)

Here's a series of videos I have made showcasing the top 4 runs for various categories in this game. One of my intentions making this is to give people a way to watch the various strats used by the top runners of a category, and see where the strengths and weaknesses of each. It also gives newer runners a variety of strats they may be able to use in their runs. I plan on making more, and updating old videos as runs get beaten, but for now, here's the ones I have done so far:

Mario, Very Easy, 5 Stock:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ir-8IJA6foo

Pikachu, Very Easy, 5 Stock:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Em1LQw4Lp_w

Jigglypuff, Very Easy, 5 Stock:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpwo_J2jHqg

Top 4 characters, Very Easy, 5 Stock:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duzVdmnPBe8

DK 5 Stock Very Easy US AI(US N64, US VC, IQue)

This guide assumes you are familiar with the advanced techniques in smash 64 and the lingo used by the smash community to refer to characters moves.

The Visual Guide for this category should be used when learning the category
http://imgur.com/fM6XCXD

While learning about this category I suggest you watch the videos of the best runs done of this category:
youtube.com/watch?v=T32mb7gueWY Jeremy Doll's 6:01 with timer on US-N64
youtube.com/watch?v=5RZCmPj8slQ Pikashy's 5:49.93 on US-N64
youtube.com/watch?v=YFs1glw2Nj0 My 5:43.77 on IQue Player


Link
Dash and Grab Link with the tip of your grab range then back-throw. You then need to buffer the dash towards where you threw him out of the back throw in order to get there as fast as possible. You need to go fast in order to bait him into using his double jump so you can grab him. Once you have the grab press forward to cargo him and walk off the ledge while throwing him, throw him just after you leave the main platform and lightly tap yourself down to the ground. The reason you need to lightly tap down is so you can prepare to dash off the ledge after link. The dash after landing needs to be right when you hit the ground, if you delay this input link will often use his double jump. You want to use a fair to spike link before he uses his 2nd jump then prevent him from using his upb by following him after the spike to land a dair. If he hits you with his upb but he is still spiked you save time because you lose bonuses.

Yoshi team
The ideal strategy for yoshi team in this category is to jump to the right platform and kill that yoshi with UpB then before the strong part ends hit the yoshi on the right platform. Then wait on the side platform to see where the 2 yoshi are spawning. Quickly plan out a route with UpB to kill the remaining yoshi that spawned on the top platform and the 2 that spawned as close to the same time as possible. If you did that in a close enough time period and made sure to land back on a platform you should be in a good position to take out the next 3 that will be spawning near each other. The rest of the stage is making sure those cycles are happening to make it really fast. If you get them out of sync remember that grabbing and throwing(preferably back) should be used on a single yoshi in certain situations you don’t want to use UpB due to the length of the move.

Fox
Buffer the dash out of the countdown just like you did on link to grab him, sometimes he walks towards you but a lot of the time he just just runs away from you. When you figure out which way he is going and grab him you should back throw him immediately no matter where you are. When he lands from the throw he will not tech and that means you can grab him as soon as you get to him. You then have to cargo him then move to this point http://imgur.com/AD3uNlR and jump with him on your back holding him until the peak of your jump(assuming you held right 100 the entire time) and release him. After releasing him you need to land on the slope on the left edge of the stage and dash immediately to fair him offstage before he uses he uses his 2nd jump then follow him after the spike and dair him before he can use UpB. This strategy bears a lot of resemblance to the Link strategy employed earlier on link and the same rule applies for getting hit with the UpB as with the Link strategy.

Mario Bros
Buffer Shield roll right behind Mario and grab him immediately out of that to back throw him off the bottom platform. Walk off the middle platform onto the moving platform to get in position for a full hop fair when he uses his double jump to try and get up onto the top platform. Luigi may be on the bottom platform or he might be on the top platform depending on the way you and your cpu partner moved and threatened his space. If he is on the bottom you should plan your fair so you land on the moving platform again to jump up to the bottom centre platform, grab luigi, and run off the stage with him in a cargo to trade the first of your stocks for his. If he is the top platform plan out your fair so you can double jump onto the top platform and grab luigi so you can drop through and fast fall with the cargo.

Pikachu
Buffer a dash and full hop at the top of the inner slope to land in front of Pikachu. Walk forward a bit and grab him, if he rolls behind you while you are moving towards him pivot quickly and grab him. Then utilize the cargo throw to trade your 2nd stock with his.

Giant DK
Run to the end of the incline in the middle of the stage and do a full hop while holding right. At the apex of your jump use your double jump to land on the top right platform to get in place for your grab. Once you grab him drop through the platform, hold right enough to get past the stage and let go of input. At about the level of the barrels fast fall to trade his stock for yours, the reason you wait is that if you fastfall too early he breaks out of your grab and UpBs costing 3 seconds.

Kirby team
Dash towards the left platform and jump immediately to kill the Kirby on the right with an UpB, you should be able to hit the Kirby on the top platform with the strong hit of your UpB if you hold up-right after hitting the 1st one. It is key that these kills be very close to each other so the next cyclespawns together. I am going to try and explain how to manipulate both Kirby into spawning on the same side with this image http://imgur.com/g5MwOE7 . This is the area that you must be in while they are spawning. If you are in the air you need to be holding right slightly while falling or else they will spawn apart and you will lose the cycle, once you have reached the ground wait for them to spawn before moving towards them and jumping into your next upb somewhere near the left side of the left platform. After hitting both Kirby with the side fist hitboxes on the UpB so they don’t get KOed off the top fade back to the red X on the image I last linked then let go of your stick and wait for them both to die. Make sure that when they spawn you are in the designated area either holding right slightly in the air or not moving on the ground near the right part of the designated area.

Edit: here is an image taken from discord that details this with theory on why it works
https://imgur.com/a/lDO6doL

Samus
Charge Giant Punch(B) then dash to samus and grab her
Back throw her off the edge
Wait for her to use her 2nd jump and Grab her again
Throw her off the level and use Giant Punch in the air after she uses her 2nd jump

Metal Mario
Jump and hit a in the air with no joystick input
Turn around and grab Metal Mario
Walk off the level and press down on the joystick

Fighting Polygon Team
Jump and use Up+B on the Polygon on the left platform then the top
Land on the right platform and back-throw the polygon there

Master Hand
Alternating full hop(with stick for extra height) fair uair and fair nair is technically the fastest method of defeating master hand
Repeated upsmash in place is a lot easier to pull off and should be used in situations where master hand will use his next attack right away

Strategies for Individual Moves

R◄ Poke Master Hand pokes the air twice. The second poke is more powerful. Inflicts 8-26%.
-baiting master hand into using this move near his default position causes him to stay in place longer before the next attack cycle
A► Background Fist Master Hand flies away up the top of the screen and makes a fist in the background. And he punches into the
player. He flies back on the stage. Does 16% to player.
-if you down smash right before the punch from behind it clanks with the fist hitbox, smash DI the hit down and tech in place to keep your position to punish him when he comes back
B► Gun Master Hand makes the shape of a gun, and fires sets of 2 bullets. He fires 1 set if above 100 HP, and three sets if below. 5% each.
-Your run ultimately decides a great deal on how many of these you get in the attack pattern, unfortunately DK does not have a method of damaging MH while he is charging the gun. You are able to charge giant punch in this time though so you can have an instakill once he gets below 36 which can save time.
R▲ Drill Master Hand flies up, then slams down while spinning in a drill-like fashion. 1-25%
-If you bait MH correctly you should not be hit by this attack but if you are smash DI into the ground and tech roll out
-If you space yourself correctly you can hit MH while he is spinning with the tip of the fsmash htibox without getting hit, this is the fastest option.
L▲ Sweep Master Hand makes several sweeping motions. The amount of motions depend on the size of the platform. 12%
R▼ Crush Master Hand flies off the top of the screen, then appears in the background. He attempts to flatten the player. 16%
L▼ Walk Master Hand "walks" using his pointer and middle fingers. When he reaches his opponent, he "kicks" them. 18%.
-you want to interrupt this move as quickly as possible with a fair spaced near the base of the fingers, once you trade hits with MH smash DI towards the ground and tech to get in position
A▲ Jet Master Hand makes a vaguely plane-like shape, then flies into the background. He attempts to fly into the player, then flies in from the right. If the player makes contact with him when he is taking off, they will be burned launched downwards. 12-16%
-when master hand is approaching from behind you can trade with him as before with dsmash, make sure to tech roll to the left so you dont get hit by him coming in from the right and get in position for a fair just after the hitbox finishes on the hand into an upsmash
L► Slap Master Hand makes a slapping motion across the platform. 16%
R► Target punch Master Hand hovers over the target, then quickly punches down. 8-24%
-if you recognize the startup frames of this attack you can use both jumps to hit MH while he is aiming the fist and still have enough time to fastfall to the ground and shielding his attack then punishing
Z► Dash grab Master Hand follows an enemy, then dashes towards them and grabs them, crushing
him/her/it in his hand 3 times. 80%
-this attack has a telltale startup animations where MH moves in relation to you and his fingers can be seen moving as his palm turns up
-mash to get out of this attack
Z▲ Catch and throw Master Hand follows an enemy, then catches them, then crushes him/her/it in his hand 3 times then throws them up in the air (K.O.'s most of the time). 80%
-this attack has a telltale startup animations where MH moves in relation to you and his fingers can be seen moving as his palm turns up
-mash to get out of this attack

DK on Master Hand - Best strats to use (advanced strat, but works on all difficulties)

Seeing how complicated the guide is, here's my recommendation in a summary:

.

Dealing Damage:

Beginner strat: Up Smash. Just spam up smash.

Advanced strat: Alternate between Full-Hop Fair-Nair and Full-Hop Fair-Uair.

The advanced strat is only faster if you can perform the double aerial with over 50% consistency. If you can't, then stick to Up Smash.

Regardless of the strat you use, whenever Master Hand is not able to be hit, charge a Giant Punch. When it is fully charged, use it immediately (so that you can charge it again if necessary)

.

Finishing off Master hand:

Up-B: 12% damage (comes out on frame 3 and has a large hitbox)
Up Smash: 21% damage if advanced strat used (16% if beginner strat used due to stale moves).
Fully Charged Giant Punch: 36% damage

.

For more detailed information, or for more situational strats and stuff, read below, but the summary above should be more than enough unless you're going for a fully optimized time.

===============================================================================================

For beginners, use Up Smash. It's the easiest consistent strategy. What I'm going to describe below is a complex sequence that is only faster if you can perform it consistently (i.e. over 50% of attempts are successes). Conveniently, 50% is basically the "borderline" between which is faster. But if you're not comfortable performing double aerials (fairly precise sequence), then stick to Up Smash.

.

The strategy I am describing is using a full hop, then performing two aerials within that Full Hop. The first is a Forward Aerial (aka Fair), while the second could be any of the others, as I'll describe below. The timing is fairly precise, but something that can be practiced to a good level of consistency. This strat is significantly faster than only using Up-Smash, so if you are able to perform it, I highly recommend it.

When I refer to frames of leniency, I mean the number of frames that you can "drop", or "not put an input", and still be able to perform the sequence. A 0 frame leniency means that you must be frame perfect on the whole thing, while a 5 frame leniency means you can "miss" up to 5 frames (so basically a 6 frame window).

All my leniencies are assuming a neutral C button full jump (neutral stick position during the startup of the jump). Doing a fully angled C button full jump (holding hard left or right) loses 6 frames of leniency on the cycle, meaning that a 9 frame leniency is now a 3 frame leniency, etc. Also, doing a max height stick jump increases leniency by one frame (this may depend on the controller, as different controllers have different max height stick jumps). So if you're using a different jump method, or accidentally do an angled C jump, then you'll have to take that into account.

.

For every double aerial cycle, the ideal situation is to start with Fair, and then a second aerial on the descent before you land. Doing Fair-Fair cycles are ineffective, as you're permanently using a stale Fair, and are only dealing 12 damage per hit (compared to using Fair every second move, where Fair deals 14 damage, a 2 damage increase plus an increase depending on the other move)

Looking at the other 2nd aerials aside from Fair (for reasons above), the highest damage aerials are Nair and Bair, both dealing 15% fresh. Fair-Nair has 9 frames of leniency, while Fair-Bair has 5 frames of leniency. So using Fair-Nair cycles is the most DPS option with the highest leniency. The other thing about Nair is that the only other aerial, Uair, has only one extra frame of leniency while dealing only 12 damage fresh (or 3 damage fewer at every level of staleness). So it's fairly clear that Fair-Nair is the best single string to use.

For all these cycles, Fair as the first aerial is going to deal 14 damage, so I'll only look into the second aerial. I'm also going to be putting values in terms of two cycles (i.e. Fair-Nair-Fair-?air).

.

If Nair is the only aerial used, it will be on the second worst level of staleness, dealing 13 damage total. So doing Fair-Nair only means the second aerial is doing 13 damage each time. In a 2 cycle string (Fair Nair Fair Nair), this will deal 26 damage for the second aerials total. Both cycles have 9 frames of leniency.

If we alternate Fair-Nair with a different second aerial (i.e. Fair-Uair, Fair-Dair, or Fair-Bair), Nair's damage dealt will be the same damage as its "fresh" damage output (15%). The move isn't technically "fresh", but the way the damage calculation is done, it rounds up to 15% damage dealt. So that means that in a two cycle string (Fair Nair Fair ?air), the Nair will deal 2 damage more than if we were to only use Fair Nair. The other aerial used will also deal damage equivalent to its "fresh" state (i.e. damage rounds up to its fresh amount).

.

The other three aerials all have results that are better than only using Nair as the second aerial, but each have different damages and leniencies (conveniently, the higher the damage, the smaller the frame leniency and therefore the harder it is to perform). From easiest to hardest:

Uair: 12% damage, 10 frames of leniency. Fair-Nair-Fair-Uair deals 1 damage more than Fair-Nair alone, with Uair having more leniency. Therefore, Fair-Nair-Fair-Uair is better than Fair-Nair alone. For the other two aerials, we'll use Uair as the base case (i.e. Fair-Nair-Fair-Uair).

Dair: 13% damage, 7 frames of leniency. Fair-Nair-Fair-Dair deals 1 damage more than the Uair version, but has 3 fewer frames of leniency.

Bair: 15% damage, 5 frames of leniency. Fair-Nair-Fair-Bair deals 3 damage more than the Uair version, but has 5 fewer frames of leniency.
For completion's sake, Bair deals 2 damage more than the Dair version, but has 2 fewer frames of leniency.

.

For the sake of full damage numbers and a convenient to read format:

Fair-Nair-Fair-Nair: 54 damage, leniencies of 9 and 9 (including for completion's sake, but do not use this)
Fair-Nair-Fair-Uair: 55 damage, leniencies of 9 and 10
Fair-Nair-Fair-Dair: 56 damage, leniencies of 9 and 7
Fair-Nair-Fair-Bair: 58 damage, leniencies of 9 and 5

.

So the best strategy is to use Fair-Nair-Fair-?air, where the last aerial depends on how consistent you are, or how risky you feel like being (or how many frames of leniency you feel you have remaining when using the last aerial). Keep in mind that if you have lost "frames of leniency" before performing your last aerial, those should be taken into account when deciding which aerial to use. For example, if you do an angled c button jump, the leniency decreases by 6, meaning Uair has 4 frames of leniency, Dair has 1, and Bair is impossible (TAS is one frame late). Also, if your Fair does not come out immediately after jumping, and comes out a little late, then you are losing frames of leniency from that as well. So if the startup leading to the second aerial is poor, then an easier second aerial should be used to ensure that the move does connect. If you know you're losing frames of leniency, and are panicking on which aerial to use, just use Uair, as it's the easiest/safest one. Ensuring you hit the aerial is far more important than the minor damage decrease you would get for using a different aerial. Note: This applies to the Fair-Nair as well that starts the 4 aerial sequence. Uair has one more frame of leniency than Nair, so if you feel you're losing too many frames on the startup of the cycle, then use Uair, and then use Nair on the cycle after that and continue on.

So based on that info, it's your choice on whether you want to use Uair, Dair, or Bair as the last aerial in the second cycle. That said, missing one aerial due to using a more complex cycle is slower than getting a perfect with an easier cycle. So make sure that you use the cycle you feel the most comfortable with.

Also note that the actual damage difference in the fight as a whole is rather minimal. Dair only ends up dealing 4-5 damage more than Uair during the course of the entire fight, while Bair deals 8-10 damage more than Dair (and 12-15 damage more than Uair). So the reward you get for using a harder strat is very minimal compared to the risk involved in using that strat. Whether you use the best strat (Bair) or worst strat (Uair) will either result in no difference at all, or one extra move needed (less than a second), so taking that into account, it may be better just to stick to Uair, as the risk of using other strats is not entirely worth the reward you get. That said, if Master Hand runs away from you at 2HP and uses a gun move, then that strat difference will make a huge impact (as a better strat would have KO'd before Master Hand runs away), but barring some event like that, the Uair variant would be the one I would recommend.

.

If you cannot perform full hop double aerials with over 50% consistency, then ignore all of this. Up Smash is the easier and more consistent strat. Double aerials only deal more DPS if you can perform them with more than 50% consistency. So if you either aren't consistent, or are too nervous to do them properly (or are scared of choking away a good run), stick to Up Smash. If you are able to perform double aerial, then I highly recommend doing that.

.

Other things to consider:

When Master Hand is using an attack, but is vulnerable during the attack, attack him with the best move you can use in that situation. If Master Hand is using an attack from the background (giving you one attack to use), these are the best moves to use: Giant Punch deals 36 damage, Up Smash deals 21 damage, F-smash deals 20 damage (21 if angled up), Down smash deals 19 damage. Down smash is the easiest to land, so if you don't know the timings of the others, I'd say stick to down smash.

If Master hand uses the fist punch from above, only attack him if you have time to dodge and/or shield the attack before it hits you. While getting that extra bit of damage is good, being knocked away and delaying your double aerial cycles is not worth it.

If Master hand is using the double poke move, continue doing double aerials until he's about to attack, then dodge the attack.

If Master Hand is doing the walk across the stage move, end it as soon as possible, as the sooner it ends, the sooner you can continue double aerials. However, make sure you don't get launched away, or you're losing time.

Anytime Master Hand does an attack which you can't punish (e.g. guns), charge punch as much as possible. A fully charged punch deals 36 damage. As soon as it's charged, use it on him as soon as possible (don't wait). The only exception to this is if you are going to KO him this cycle before he runs off, in which use it as a finisher as soon as his HP is 36 or below.

.

Finishing moves at various percents:

12 HP and below: Up-B (frame 3, ground and air)
13 HP: up-tilt (frame 4)
14-19 HP: Down Smash (frame 12)
20-21 HP: Up Smash (frame 16)
Up to 36 HP: Neutral B (frame 23, ground and air, only if fully charged)

These values are from after landing from a double aerial, or if Master Hand finishes a move. Basically, it assumes you're on the ground.

If you're in the air, most likely it is from starting a double aerial, and are between aerials at the given percentages. In this case:

12 HP and below: Up-B (frame 3)
13-15 HP: Bair (frame 8, the damage assumes Bair is fresh. Double jump into a Bair if necessary)
16-36 HP: Giant Punch (frame 23)

If you're in the air at 16HP or higher, and don't have a fully charged punch, then finish the double aerial (use Nair instead of Uair or Dair if they were the next move you'd use, as Nair deals more damage than Uair, while it deals the same damage as Dair with a higher frame leniency). Then use the ground finisher that matches the HP shown by Master Hand.

.

This is a lot of information (it turns out DK on Master Hand is a lot more complicated than everyone thought). If you don't want to think about numbers and math and such, just use Fair-Nair-Fair-Uair, then either Up B at 12HP or lower, or Giant Punch at 36HP or lower if fully charged. If you're panicking and are not able to think of what to do properly, and need to fall back on something, fall back on that, as it's basically the "safe" version of this strat, and is basically just as fast as nearly any other optimization shown above. If you're completely panicking, and are struggling with getting double aerials down entirely, stick to Up Smash, and then finish with up-B when he's at 12HP or lower.

.

I might make a video guide of this, as considering how complex this is, a visual representation may be a better way to explain it, and to show what is going on. Otherwise, I hope this helps, and good luck on your runs.

<(^o^)>

Link Very Easy 5 Stock Tutorial guide (simple)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ig8T24B6C9E&feature=youtu.be

REALLY FAST Fox Strat for Mario Bros Stage.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIEGICk-DWM

The Beginners Guide to Smash Speedruns

Set "timer" to infinite to remove time wasted from speed scores 


Categories: 

Very Easy 5 Stock 
put stuff here 


Normal 3 Stock: 

Link- Link's AI can be a bit funny. He will want to drift to the center of the stage, starting off with throws can be a good way to move Link close to the edge for a quick K.O 

Yoshi Team- Strats Vary depending on the character, Throws are always a good team battle move 

Fox- Fox has an AI which is very aggresive, running toward the left of Sector Z to throw and keep off is the easiest move 

Targets- Kill yourself, completing target test is a waste of time and does not effect your stock. 

Mario Bros.- this stage has a number of variables that can go wrong, so if you struggle with it, try to separate Mario and Luigi from each other and try to take them out quickly 1 by 1. If you let them get close to each other you can get combo'd hard and lose significant time 

Pikachu- Apart from hoping pikachu kills itself, (which can happen) throwing pikachu off and keeping him off is your best bet due to him being a very light character. If your character has a "spike" ability, use it to interupt his Up+B Recovery 

Giant DK- A safe strategy would be to use your characters fastest form of dealing damage (Most of the time this is the safe strat. you would use for master hand) building him up to just over 100%-120% 
health, then using Smash attacks or back throws, forcing him off the edge, and knocking him back when he tries to recover 

Platforms- Kill yourself, completing Platforms is a waste of time and does not effect your stock 

Kirby Team- There are a handful of characters that have abilities that can one shot kirby team, Using Throws is the most consistant through out all the characters, and be careful not to let them linger as they might become more and more aggresive 

Samus- if you have a hard time with samus, forcing her to the edge quickly and using smash attacks to keep her off until around 100%+ damage can be a good strategy, few characters this will vary, but Samus cannot accurately be killed by falling, she must be knocked to the sides of the map, or up into the sky. 

Metal Mario- Build this guys damage up to 150%ish and then use Smash attacks to knock him down and keep him off. Timing your smash attacks perfectly to hit when he uses his Up+B recovery is essential, some characters can go for the risker stradegy of spiking him, but starting off, stick to smashing. 

Race to the finish- Sprint 

Polygon Team- Welcome to Hell. Grabbing Pokeballs, and hammers are essential if they spawn, if you are struggling going after healing items is very important. Your attacks vary on the character, position yourself next to whatever spawning platform has the darkest shadow, if the shadow of a spawn is extremely blackened that means more than 1 polygon has spawned there and you can get 2 or 3 kills at once. again throwing is always reliable for a kill. Luck goes a long way, the best way to improve on polygons is practice and grinding. 

Master Hand- Do whatever attack does the most damage for your specific character, Vaires. 



Very Hard 1 Stock 
even more stuff here 


Unlock All Characters 
a bit more here

Tutorial Video Series

I am in the process of creating a video tutorial series for beginners, introducing strategies to be used when beginning to run each character.
An introduction to the video series can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhER3mFAFsc&index=1&list=PLlAkSmzMhm7qiFodGaXm1MWaEeniXPUKQ

I am structuring my video series to cover the things that save you the most time first
Currently Covered:
General Teams Stages Advice
Character Specific Team Stages Advice
Character Specific Damage Building Advice for Giant DK, Metal Mario, and especially Master Hand
Unlock All Characters Routing
All Unlockables Routing

Next To Cover:
General Sector Z(Samus) Advice
Character Specific Sector Z(Samus) Advice
General Peach's Castle(Mario Bros.) Advice
Character Specific Peach's Castle(Mario Bros.) Advice
Character Specific 
Next biggest time saver??

Side Video Guide Projects:
Character Specific Bonuses(Min. Targets)
Route Videos For Full Game Categories(with Options)
Rules/Legality Progression for SSB 64 Running
History of Smash 64 Speedrunning Series (2005-07, 2008-11,12-14,15-16)
Fastest Method of Ending Bonuses(min completion) Char Specific

If you have input for any video or the direction I am going with the series I would be thankful for it.

Version Differences for Speedrunning

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

Video archive for bonuses

Here is my google doc : 
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/16tTT2RJ1Zyiw4njtUi-WUIAuTZZCv-_K0Ys728MqJhQ/edit?usp=drivesdk

Inside there's 2 tabs, extra btt video and extra btp video.

It includes the 50 best times that I could find for each characters.

I think it's a really good tool to help improve your strats and set yourself personal goals.

This is useful for individual level (ILS) and real time runs.

If you have any questions, you can comment on the Google doc or on any of my videos.

I will also do my best to include any ILS run submitted to the Google doc.

Thank you !

Video guides (Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced)

Here's a series of guides I made. I plan on improving them at some point (notably the Advanced one, in which there's a lot I want to add and/or change). In the meantime, hopefully this helps <(^o^)>

Beginner:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZh93Vp2uLI

Intermediate:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuYE-HsOEJo

Advanced:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndg_ApbZpy4

Name	Author
"Top 4" videos (showing the top 4 runs in a race-like setting against each other)	pikashy 6 years ago
DK 5 Stock Very Easy US AI(US N64, US VC, IQue)	GhillieGuide 6 years ago
DK on Master Hand - Best strats to use (advanced strat, but works on all difficulties)	pikashy 6 years ago
Link Very Easy 5 Stock Tutorial guide (simple)	InprisonedShadow 6 years ago
REALLY FAST Fox Strat for Mario Bros Stage.	InprisonedShadow 8 years ago
The Beginners Guide to Smash Speedruns	GhillieGuide 8 years ago
Tutorial Video Series	GhillieGuide 9 years ago
Version Differences for Speedrunning	GhillieGuide 3 years ago
Video archive for bonuses	KM 6 years ago
Video guides (Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced)	pikashy 6 years ago