How about making two lists, which shares same romlist file?
list master
layout basic
romlist mame
filter All
filter Favorites
rule Favourite equals 1
list category
layout basic
romlist mame
filter Fighter
rule Category contains Fighter
filter Puzzle
rule Category contains Puzzle
Then you can normally stay in 'category' list, that people can cycle through (by next_filter / prev_filters).
If you intend to 'manually pick some games, and only those games are shown to people', you can use tags.
list master
layout basic
romlist mame
filter All
filter Favorites
rule Favourite equals 1
list category
layout basic
romlist mame
global_filter
rule Tags contains handpicked
filter Fighter
rule Category contains Fighter
filter Puzzle
rule Category contains Puzzle
Then you can manually pick games in 'master' list, by putting 'handpicked' tags to them. These games will be shown in 'category' list.