u dont need to donate to play pj64 1.4 . donating will just mean u will be involved with beta testing only WHEN pj64 1.4 is basically ready for release, which could be ages.
and yup those games all hav issues. if u wanna better idea of wat DOES work well, visit
www.smiff.clara.net, look at the compat. list and the known issues, and the faq if u hav lots of probs with the emu.
-zelda start prob is annoying, but it doesnt occur in majoras mask.
so get that game to keep u bust and play OoT on superHLE or ultraHLE while u wait for 1.4, as the gfx on those emus is practically perfect for OoT
-the flickering problem in ANY game that suffers from this bug has been fixed in private builds of the new version (says so on smiffs site), and that includes Paper Mario. so u can guarantee that the game will work pretty damn well in the next version.
-well according to smiffs site (known issues) the slowdown in goldeneye has been fixed, and slowdown in games like 1080 and doom64 hav also been fixed, so im guessing killer instinct is included somewhere here.
-earthworm jim runs fine on 1964 (if uve got win2k/xp), and should run fine on pj64 1.2.
hope that helps.