Building a cheat bot
medium.com
medium.com
Another strategy that I'm wondering if the author explored is to use basic colour detection to find the edge of the map, the orientation and speed of the stick. It might be that it changes too often or is non-unique (the game is very exciting and colourful...).
That way, the 'bot' would not ostensibly be cheating, it would not have access to information that a human doesn't - it would just have the benefit of perfect motor skills.
Hacking in and reading RAM is brilliant, though.
edit: Thinking about it a bit more, I suppose you're not really gaining anything by knowing the map ahead of time; you can map it over time by traversing; and if I recall correctly there is a way to detach the camera and look around.
Obligatory Awesome Games Done Quick reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWa5GPb9fw8 ("AGDQ 2015 TASbot taking over Pokemon Red, and MORE", 9Min, SFW)