Oh yeah, I forgot to say how I'd try to incorporate the manga, the one where Sonic is a normal kid named Nicky and Sonic is his superhero alt-personality. Obviously it's one of the things furthest away from most of the franchise, but it's also the source of Amy and Charmy, and that is notable.
Another thing that makes this series strange is that it was actually seven or eight different series. One each for grades 1-6, plus a seventh one published in a magazine that wasn't pretending to be educational and for grade-schoolers (but obviously was still for young boys), and a couple appearances in special issues outside any of these series. Though they were technically different series, they were published by the same company and seemed to be all based on the same outline. But there are things like Tails being introduced as if for the first time in multiple different chapters, because those chapters were technically in different magazines. But meanwhile other magazines would just have him show up and expect you to understand who he is. So they are probably best thought of as technically different continuities, but really they're very much related to each other, much more than, say, SatAM and Archie.
But that's not the most confusing thing. The most confusing thing is that one of the several artists they had doing these various series just plain decided to ignore all the model sheets and draw the characters however he wanted. So in his chapters, Amy, Charmy, and secondary villain Anton Verruca all had radically different designs. Nicky's sister was named Anita instead of her usual name of Tania. Nicky himself was brown instead of blue, until a few chapters in when this was the one thing that actually changed and Nicky started being colored as blue. This author happened to be the guy who wrote and drew the first couple chapters released, so the few English-speakers who care often think that these were the original designs and they changed later, but that's not the case. Naoto Oshima provided character designs, including Classic Amy, for example, and then this one guy just ignored them. Even when he sometimes did a chapter in one of the other magazines that was usually or previously done by another mangaka, he just did his own weird designs anyway.
Also, the magazines had different formats. Obviously the stories in the first-grade magazine were a bit simpler. Many of the third-grade stories are just quick gags that are only a couple pages. Most importantly, the fourth-grade magazine published illustrated prose stories, not comics, written by the guy who did the actual story bible (or whatever it would be called) that the other mangaka were supposed to be following. However, since they're actual prose, nobody has been autistic enough to do fan translations of them yet, and using Google Translate on them isn't as simple or practical as it was on the manga chapters. There are a few fan translations for the manga chapters, and I used Google Translate on many more, but there are a few I couldn't find even in Japanese. I did manage to find the first and last stories, but there are a couple of chapters that could possibly have important info, but I don't know since I couldn't find them.
But I didn't actually say what the series was, did I? It takes place in Hedgehog Town. Nicky is a little nerdy hedgehog kid. He has a family which includes his father, Paulie, his sister, Tania/Anita (that one guy calls her Anita even though she has a T on her shirt in many chapters), and his mother, whose name I forget because I don't recall any chapters where she was very important. He also has a girlfriend, Amy Rose. Amy is a bitch, though, and constantly talking shit to Nicky about what a little bitch he is. She likes Sonic better. Unbeknownst to anybody, including Nicky, Nicky turns into Sonic in times of extreme stress, when he wishes he was brave enough to do important things. Frequently, this means saving Amy from getting raped by local bully, Anton Verruca. But then it's not rape all the time, because there are multiple times when Amy agrees that she will go off with Anton if he beats Nicky at something, or if Nicky just doesn't show up in time to "save" her. Amy reacts to Sonic the same way she does in the games. She's a massive fangirl, but Sonic never seems to give her any romantic attention.
Eventually, Eggman shows up to Hedgehog Town, looking for Sonic, and disguises himself as local police officer, Dogman. He sometimes recruits Anton to work for him, but other times Eggman attacks Anton the same as anyone else. He doesn't show much loyalty, and I don't think Anton realizes he's working for Eggman, since people seem to not realize Dogman is Eggman. Tails shows up after a while, saying that he always follows Sonic around, and this brought him to Hedgehog Town. I'm not sure if they ever explain it in a chapter I can't find, as it isn't evident in his earliest appearances, but later on, Tails knows Nicky is Sonic. In one of the last chapters (but not the very last story) Amy also learns that Nicky is Sonic. However, I'm missing at least one chapter immediately before the last story, and I'm not sure if that one explains it, but Nicky just doesn't appear or get referenced in the last story. So I'm not sure if Nicky ever learns he is Sonic, or transforms into Sonic permanently, or if the story ever makes a point that it's important that Amy now knows Nicky is Sonic.
Also, Charmy appears for the first time, but he is very strange, and I'm missing many of his appearances. He has a radically different design in chapters by that one weird artist, and comes out of a "Time Box" which he can use to turn back time before Sonic lost a battle and make it so Sonic can win.
One notable story involves Paulie telling Nicky of when he first met Sonic. Before Nicky was born, Paulie was flying an experimental aircraft but lost control and almost crashed. Sonic appeared to him and guided him (spiritually) to regain control of the aircraft and make an emergency landing. He landed in front of Nicky's mom's house. That's how they met. If this is time travel, or if Sonic is some sort of eternal spirit that possesses Nicky, or what. Sonic does seem to be something like Nicky when he gains confidence, but as far as I know, no actual explanation is ever given for why he actually transforms, or for how he met Paulie before Nicky was born.
At one point, they adapt Sonic 2. Actually, I think they do multiple times, in different magazines. One of these times involves going not just to Westside Island and doing a few setpieces from the game, but also travelling through time.
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