Penny's Paradox World

Penny's Paradox World is a 3D action-adventure platformer video game developed by Ministry Interactive Software, and is the first game released by the studio. The game was released in May 2002 as a launch title for the Nintendo GameCube in Europe and Australia. An Xbox version was later released on 11th October, 2002, and both versions of the game were later released in the United States on 10th November that year.

Penny's Paradox World was created in order to demonstrate the GameCube's powerful engine, including its higher graphic resolution and its high polygon and model count. The game received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised the game's presentation, gameplay, graphics and music, though it also received criticism for its plot, voice acting and short length.

Plot
Whilst playing outside in her back garden, ten year-old Penny finds a rusty door she has never seen before. After walking through to see what is on the other side, the door ends up closing on her. Penny decides to explore the strange area she has wandered into to find out how to get back home.

Gameplay
A 3D action-adventure platforming video game, Penny's Paradox World is divided into seven different levels, including an introduction and two final levels. The main seven levels are represented by a colour of the rainbow (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple and pink, as described in the game).

The objective of the game is to get to the end of the level and defeat the boss holding one of the seven Diamond Keys that unlocks Level 8. However, the player has other objectives they must do before they can fight the boss. The player is given a checklist with other goals which can be completed. Objectives that appear in most levels include:
 * Finding either three, four or five Crystal Stars. These are needed to open the gate to the boss in every level (except Level 0).
 * Finding the hidden Platinum Stone in each level. This unlocks the game's next level. Contrary to what their name implies, these are actually coloured inline with the upcoming level.
 * Finding the hidden Vinyl Player in each level. Collecting these unlocks a song that can be played in the Sound Test.
 * Playing and completing the minigame located in each level's Crowbeard's Arcade. Completing each of these grants the player a permanent upgrade.

Development
A technical demo for the GameCube titled Project Vortex was shown off at E3 2000. The demo consisted of a cinematic cutscene rendered in-game which featured a variety of different worlds, such as an ancient temple, a mountain and a grassy hill. The tech demo is, as of 2021, considered lost, with only a few clips of it surfacing on the internet.

In the spring of 2001, screenshots of the game were posted on Ministry Interactive Software's website. Though the playable character was not seen in any of the screenshots, a few of the in-game enemies and playable levels were shown. Later, at E3 2001, the game, under its final name, Penny's Paradox World, was revealed to the public, and was stated dor a December 2001 release.

During development, Penny's Paradox World originally starred a crocodile creature in a clown outfit called Snapper. Director Juliet Diaz, however, thought the character didn't look too interesting. She ultimately decided to change the protagonist to a human girl since she felt there were not many female protagonists in video games.

Following the success of the GameCube version of the game, an Xbox version of Penny's Paradox World was announced in July 2002. The Xbox version of the game features little differences to the GameCube version, though it does fix a few of the GameCube version's glitches, including a glitch in the PAL version where, when playing in 50Hz mode, the game will sometimes register two button presses instead of one. A PlayStation 2 version was planned, but cancelled - Diaz claimed that the PlayStation 2 was unable to support the game's higher quality graphics.