Use Dolphin Mod Manager or manually place mod files in Load/Textures/GMSE01. (GMSE01 is the Game ID for the USA ROM).
The USA version contains specific collision detection bugs that were patched in later Japanese revisions. For speedrunners: Super Mario Sunshine Gamecube Rom Usa
If you are a casual player, these don't matter. If you are a runner, you must source the Super Mario Sunshine (USA) (En,Fr,Es).gcm dump. Use Dolphin Mod Manager or manually place mod
In the original hardware, the Sand Bird level is frustrating. On Dolphin with high framerates, it becomes even harder because the bird shakes off Mario faster. The USA version contains specific collision detection bugs
While not a ROM file, Nintendo released a compilation for the Switch that includes an upscaled version of Sunshine. Digital forensic experts have noted that the Switch version is essentially an emulation wrapper around the original GameCube executable. If you own this legally, some users extract the NSP and convert it back to a standard ISO, though this is a grey area legally.