What is the best means to play 64?

[Captain Phobos]

I tried the rom, but it was a totally broken port. How do people here play it if not on an actual N64?

 

[Lola Luftnagle]

Yeah...I played this for quite a while on an emulator myself. But the high amount of memory it was taking on my PC got on my nerves that I just stopped altogether a few years back. I'd purchase this for the Wii's Virtual Console or just use the N64 console.

 

[.Marik]

i play on vc cuz u can just use gc and the frame delay is so slight it doesnt even matter lol

i mean id play on n64 but id need a raphnet adaptor and i aint gonna pay like $60 for 1

 

[Skwrl]

I play on the N64. They aren't expensive.

 

[Zantetsu]

N64 is the best option if you ever want to compete in tournaments. They use N64's in tournaments which have occasional slow downs so it's best to practice on the real hardware to ensure your timings are on point.

After that, I would suggest PC emulation over Wii Virtual Console. The Virtual Console doesn't have frame delay, but it does skip over frames instead of slowing down, which can cause dropped inputs.
The ROM you got wasn't a port, nearly all ROMs of Smash 64 are the same and work fine. What was likely the issue was your emulator and/or graphics plugin.
I suggest using Project 64 2.3 or the latest Mupen if you're not playing online, but if you are playing online then use the emulator here: www.ssb64.com/netplay
Tinker with different graphic plugins to see what works best on your PC. I personally recommend GLideN64 (which is NOT the same as Glide 64) but it's a little resource heavy compared to others so Jabos 3D8 would be a close 2nd.

 

[TetsuAsteroid]

You're best off playing on a 64. If you have access to a computer it would be worth emulating it to player various players you don't always see.