Tough, the cast is huge and there's so many memorable characters, even the smaller characters. I could writer a lot but I'm not sure where I'd even begin.
The game just has such fantastic writing all-around. From major characters like Goombella, Vivian, and TEC-XX, to more minor ones like Jolene, Flavio, and the Pianta Syndicate, to even NPCs with only a few lines of dialogue like the Toad who plays Fire Emblem, everyone in the game has a lot of personality. The writing in this series is brilliant.
Id agree about liking both the major characters and the minor ones. My favorite is Vivian, cuz I liked her the most on my first playthrough (I had no idea she was gonna join your party so I was way excited : p ) I also liked many of the minor characters too, especially in the glitz pit, haha Rawk Hawk was great : p
Haha : p I dont think the glitz pitz really had a good equivalent for Sting, sadly : p Havent played in over a year though, so dont totally remember everyone.
He was kinda like Sting, I guess? : p Also didnt Rawk Hawk do like a boy dive move? I was thinking he must have been inspired by the ultimate warrior : p
In terms of design, he's pretty close to the Ultimate Warrior. In terms of personality, he's got a lot of the Rock in him, what with his enormous ego and crowd-appealing personality. He's also called Hawk Hogan in Spanish versions, so that's a thing.
Wouldn't be able to answer that one, myself. I would imagine that it has a similarly goofy tone, although some of the jokes probably had to be changed, since the cultural contexts would likely make some of the humor in the original version go over the heads of western audiences.