>>537821750
Disagree. There'd be less.
SonAmy got its fuel from Sonic X.
A Sonic X that committed to being a SatAM Soft-reboot/continuation (which the pilot already implied) and introduced Sally as Sonic's girlfriend would simplify solidify Sonally as the canon OTP and prevent any drama from happening.
Japanese Sonic Fans did not care about Amy at the time. Even to this day, JP SonAmy struggles against JP SonTails in terms of popularity.

US SonAmy got huge because X did gangbusters in the west.

If Sonally was in X no one would care about SonAmy.
It'd be as notable as Rouge being a thief, something so forgotten IDW decided to introduce a new thief character instead of just using her. Prime doesn't even feature it.