Yeah, publishers had countless bedroom coders approaching them with their games, so as far as I'm aware a lot of them were basically re-skinned with some sort of recognizable licence to give it brand recognition and then kicked out the door.I am a British game designer and my childhood was filled with weird licensed video games on C64 and ZX Spectrum.
Mr. Wimpy, Neighbours, Spitting Image, The Untouchables and Action Biker (a licensed game about the Skips snack mascot).
Games were sold in supermarkets and Boots so branded stuff sold well here.
Kind of like how Doki Doki Panic was re-skinned as Super Mario Bros 2.