A new approach to Pokemon runs?

I've been routing and running a very good Pokemon romhack lately. It's called Pokemon Crystal Clear, and in many ways it's better for casual play and speedrunning than the main series Pokemon games. And it's got me thinking that maybe I can continue running and routing Pokemon games without having to grind for god luck and perfectly executed RNG manipulations.

The main series games are reaching a point where the grind isn't fulfilling. Sure, WR might still be "free" in some games thanks to new discoveries, but you're often very unlikely to finish a deathless run. It's a taxing grind, and WRs don't get you much at the end of the day. I've written about my qualms with RNG manipulation before, but the bottom line is that I just don't care about running a game that rewards you primarily for hitting 1-3 frame windows. That type of skill barely benefits from practice, and I enjoy seeing my practice pay off. Manips also rely on tools that I have to wait for other people to make. And they have no real-world application.

I've been skeptical of romhacks in the past for several reasons:
1) They're often overrated
2) They're oversaturated
3) No one really cares about them. Running romhacks feels like a casual, unrewarding experience because there's no competition for good routes/times

The third reason also applies to unconventional Pokemon categories, such as Baton Pass% in Gen 2, Cyndaquil% in Gen 2, and Battle Frontier individual facilities. I've done runs like this sparingly in the past, always feeling like they were a waste of time after the initial surge of interest.

But these reasons aren't deal breakers. If I can find and dedicate myself to some especially interesting runs/hacks for a while, maybe others will follow suit. The top Pokemon runners have traditionally looked down upon romhacks and unconventional categories, and maybe they'll realize, as I did, that there's no good reason for this. Stream numbers might decline, but only slightly, and hopefully only temporarily. The larger Pokemon community as a whole seems pretty receptive to romhacks and unconventional speedruns, and that's the majority of our viewer base. It's just matter of ramping up the competition so that new routes, PBs and WRs actually matter to people.

Here are some categories I'm eyeing right now:
- Crystal Battle Tower% (win a set)
- Crystal Cyndaquil%
- Emerald Battle Frontier individual facility runs (7 in total)
- Fire Red Charmander% (have played it a lot before, might be fun to return)
- Colosseum Quilava%
- XD All Battle CDs
- Crystal Clear starter% (currently running this)
- Crystal Clear Igglybuff% (for a special someone)

Notice the lack of romhacks. Crystal Clear is actually the first good romhack I've ever finished, so I'm open to recommendations. I'm looking for games that don't have artificial difficulty (level caps, not allowing items in fights, etc.), and games that have speedrun-friendly features (fast resets, minimal mashing, open-world exploration).

If you want to read more on this subject, check out this paste from Entrpntr: https://pastebin.com/YwerDtJ0