For me, Amy is still handled better in her relationship with Sonic than Peach with Mario.
Amy still keeps saying she loves Sonic despite she's not obsessive as she used to be.
In IDW Sonic #2, Amy notably tells Sonic she loves him while they have their fingers intertwined, telling him she doesn't want to change him.
Peach? I never heard she said she loves Mario in a romantic way, not even once.
While Peach frequently shows affection through kisses on the nose or cheek after being rescued, Nintendo generally keeps their relationship ambiguous. No "love" word ever being spoken.
How she was depicted in IDW#2 was perfect for her. Especially this page:
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What I like about this page is, to my surprise, Sonic offered Amy Rose to come with him. He knew it would be just the two of them, and he is allowing her to follow him knowing full-well what she is like. While Sonic has had the occasional date with her in the past (although off-record dates), this is the first time I've ever seen Sonic give permission to Amy Rose to come with him.
And what amazed me even more was, despite Amy being just as goo-goo for him the previous page, Amy declines his offer over her responsibility with the Restoration at the time.
This is the kind of relationship I would want for the two. Amy no longer immature and stalking Sonic under demand of marriage, but still open and honest about her love for him. And in return Sonic is not pushing her away like a lovesick puppy with the plague and being more accepting of her as friend and romantic interest.
But ever since Team Sonic Racing, it's one thing for Amy to no longer behave like a stalker towards Sonic, but she seem to no longer have any deep interest in Sonic. Just seems to be just a dear friend to him.
It's especially odd for her in Sonic Frontiers where she was interested in the lovestory around two koco lovers who want to reunite, but she never once compared the love of these two koco to hers with Sonic, nor complain why they can't have what the koco have.
In fact, watching this scene with her, as a SonAmy fan, was kind of heartbreaking for me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLL2CdzvrA4While i know it was "nothing of the sort", to me, it felt like she no longer wanted to chase after someone who wouldn't bother to love her back. She has so much love to give but the one she loved just kept running away from her. So she's giving up her love for Sonic and redirecting that love to the world and people who need it.
I know that is not what is said or implied at all, but how the scene played out... kinda felt that way, especially given the abrupt change in her personality away from Sonic since 2019.
If Amy's obsession with Sonic is no longer regarded "appropriate" for Sonic Teams current demography, or they want to make her a bit more girl-boss, then sure. Make changes to her that are appropriate for modern times. But I don't appreciate this feeble attempt of retconning and downgrading her love for Sonic despite how obvious her lovesick behaviour was since 1993.
To me, how Ian Flynn depicted her in IDW#2 was just perfect and I'd rather this be their stable dynamic for now on.
Either that or just throw SonAmy fans a meaty bone and have Sonic and Amy start dating and be sweet with one another, all the while still being strong, independent heroes.
