Don't think Vaati or Kamek exactly qualify as "cute" - definitely magical though. Of course, this maiden here is still a big fan of him.
(Also I think Kamek's the quintessential 2nd Yoshi-rep, if for the unique style of gameplay he could have with his magic)
On Ashley however, I'm bit iffy too, since she's bit on the popular, yet kind of generic side of "creepy cute goth girl"-archetype which I don't think won me as much over as the original characters from Warioware Inc.-game.
I don't think it's the very stereotypical "gay rainbows" that held it being localized, but the game's overall vibe, anyway. As a lot have noted, it was very much built on Japanese sense of humour and strange vibes - which is of course what SKIP's games are known for, but here it was used for some rather suggestive content even, and back in the day such a game would have been difficult to find a profitable fanbase to warrant a localization.
Things have changed since though - since much like what I feel on Mother 3, I feel like the English fan translation suffices enough to allow ones curious about the game to dive deep to it, and probably generate similar buzz or fan following as Mother-series did.