list of most relevant changes by patch
(Only up to 210 for now, since 197 and 210 lose a lot of time to older patches)

144: earliest release
151: no longer possible to get bike in heath town, must wait until roughly phlox lab to get bike (after phlox lab with perfect movement i think)
152: fixes dig/teleport bugs, not used
	blue power ranger teams fixed, probably small time save
	phlox cave boulder, small time loss?
	tp/escape while undercover, not used
	fixed rock smash from menu, 2 extra trainers in fighting gym
	intro cutscene, small time loss
	rng changes, no idea what this means
156: fix wrong gold token item in spurge mart, no idea what this changes
158: fix altaria type, what was it before?
159: hold start to mash text, good timesave
160: hold start works better, timesave?
164: fix pachisi board, relevant for bingo? or worse?
166: fix 1/256 effect misses, probably actually bad?
	stat exp applied after every battle, minor timesave potentially
169: candies revive mons, not used
	last city walled off until more badge, bad for beat red?
172: map overhaul, slower fly usage?
175: gold token exchanges overhauled, not sure what this changes
177: can configure hold to mash, not sure if useful
194: sandstorm raises sp. def., maybe bad
196: new hud, might be worth checking if it's laggier/less laggy
197: phlox skip patched, major time loss
200: dusknoir replaces carnivine, i think slight time loss??
204: exp share no longer awards double exp, abusable in older patches?
	awakenings for sale in oxalis, very helpful in mound cave
210: lucky egg moved, major time loss

unown: at some point between 152 and 196, ai pokemon abilities now depend on class, id, and party position
Notably, this means some eevees in mound cave now have adaptability, (black and green i think)(blue doesn't iirc)
May mean less sturdy too, needs investigating whether it's a timesave or timeloss
Not mentioned in patch notes, might be an ai improvement from 166?

unown: in 196, x items raise the wrong stats
they will either raise the last stat modified, or attack if no stat has been modified
likely just 196, but could affect some earlier patches too

unown: at some point the collision of some tiles in firelight caverns is changed, allowing a firebreather to be skipped.
this trainer is still skippable in 144, but requires a sizeable detour to do so

166?: water ring now functional, decent timesaver in beat red, might help with arcade(azumarill route only probably)

Best patch for each category:
Any%: 144
Glitchless: 144 optimal, unless hold to mash saves more time than early bike. 
Beat Red: 144 or 168, since 169 likely loses time forcing extra gyms. 168 has functional water ring, and lv100 pokes can gain stat exp which may help postgame (can get bike after phlox lab)
1st bingo card: need more research, but likely 144 or 168 (don't remember if 20 gyms needed)