I'm trying to learn DK64 runs, preferably nle, after playing the game for ages. After looking through some route guides I'm a bit confused as to which routes and tricks work for which versions of the game. I have a WiiU VC and a Pal N64 available. Which routes are doable and reccomended to start of with either of these?

No levels early would best be done on VC. Since there's a huge lag reduction in the VC version, it makes it harder to perform glitches like orange clip but makes up for it with the no lag (time reductions just because of the FPS). And NLE doesn't have too many glitches in most routes, and the glitches you are going to do aren't exclusive to N64. So running on N64 would just be slower in general. But I'm fairly new to DK64 running, so hopefully someone who has been here longer can also answer!

Both consoles are fine for running this game but the Wii U version is faster for all categories, however a lot of people prefer running on N64 for various reasons. I'm assuming your Wii U is PAL as well and unfortunately PAL is not very good for running this game. You can still do it just the route you will be doing will be different from what everyone else does as some tricks are patched. It is recommended to have a NTSC N64 or Wii U but you. Others can elaborate further if they want but if you need help or do not know what route to use you can always ask in the discord as you are more likely to get a response there.