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 eventually finds out that she has discovered a hidden world called the Surreal World, and decides to explore the strange area she has wandered into to find out how to get back home.

Whilst exploring the Surreal World, Penny meets Arthur, a black firefly, who informs her that the Surreal World is too dangerous, and agrees to help her get back home. He reveals to her that there is another way back, but the way is sealed off by the seven Diamond Keys, which Arthur disposed of in order to keep anybody from enterting the Surreal World. Thus, Penny and Arthur agree to recover the seven Diamond Keys.

Whilst traversing through the Surreal World, Penny encounters a clown-like creature called Terence, who attempts to stop her from making progress. After rescuing a boy called Nathan from one of the game's bosses, Nathan tells Penny and Arthur that Terence is taking orders from "some creepy thing". Penny learns about the mysterious creature by looking through Special Telescopes hidden in the game's levels. It is eventually revealed that the mysterious figure has been luring children into the Surreal World and killing them.

Terence takes one last attempt to capture Penny and Nathan, but is ultimately defeated by the former. Terence apologises for the trouble, revealing that he was forced to do what he was doing. Suddenly a bug-like creature, Amrock, appears and kills Terence for his failures. Amrock reveals that the Surreal World was originally a fun attraction that humans would visit, and Amrock was the "court jester". However, Amrock became jealous of Arthur, who got all the credit and popularity, so Amrock decided to get revenge by turning the Surreal World into a dangerous place, and intending to do the same to Earth.

Arthur helps Penny and Nathan escape, but Amrock makes it through the secret door Penny found in her garden right before they can close it. Amrock goes on a rampage destroying the street but is ultimately destroyed after Penny reflects his attacks against him. With Amrock gone, Arthur helps rebuild both the street and the Surreal World, and tells Penny and Nathan that they can return anytime they like.

Heroes

 * Penny - the game's protagonist. A ten year-old girl who enjoys the outside and likes going on adventures. It is implied on a few occasions that she is generally lonely.
 * Arthur - a black firefly and Penny's sidekick. He is the once-popular owner of the Surreal World who now makes sure nobody enters it in order to protect them. He serves as Penny's guide throughout the game.
 * Nathan - a boy who is roughly Penny's age. He was kidnapped by Terence after being lured into the Surreal World, but is eventually rescued by Penny and Arthur. Penny begins to develop a crush on him as the game progresses.

Neutral characters

 * Terence - the game's central antagonist. He is a grumpy looking clown creature who tries to stop Penny from making any more progress and tries to kidnap her. It is later revealed, however, that he was only taking orders from Amrock because he feared him.
 * Crowbeard - a crow who owns his own line of arcades. Said arcades feature minigames that give Penny upgrades if she completes them.

Villains

 * Amrock - a golden flying bug creature and the game's main antagonist. He lures people, especially children, into the Surreal World and kills them, as vengeance for being unfairly treated in his past. He is responsible for turning the Surreal World into a dangerous place, causing Arthur to lock the entrances.

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 game's main collectible, Surreal Coins, come in three varieties; bronze (worth one), silver (worth five) and gold (worth ten).

Moveset and controls
When playing as Penny, the player can move, jump, doublejump and perform a robust group of other moves.

Arthur follows the player throughout the game, who provides instructions at certain areas. He can also give the player advice if they stuck and are unsure what they are supposed to do.

Health bar and continues
Penny has six health pieces in the game, which can be upgraded to as many as ten. If the player runs out of heart pieces, they can either continue where they left off for a thousand Surreal Coins or return to the level select hub. If the player continues after losing all their hearts, they will receive a "Continued" penalty after beating the level. This does not actually do anything gameplay-wise, but causes an exclamation mark to appear in front of the level's entrance. The only way to remove the exclamation mark is to beat the level from the start without continuing.

The player does not actually need a thousand Surreal Coins in order to continue. If they have less, then they simply pay all of their Surreal Coins. If they have none, they simply continue without paying.

Collectibles
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.
 * Finding the three Stolen Goodies located in each level. These do not contribute towards finishing the game, and are instead just collectibles.

Sometimes, a Vinyl Player or Stolen Goody will be initially impossible to obtain until the player receives an upgrade from Crowbeard's Arcade in a later level. The player will be required to unlock the upgrade first, and then return to the earlier level(s) in order to collect the item(s).

Whilst it is not listed on the checklist, each level (except Level 0 and 8) has a Special Telescope hidden in it. Once the player finds a Special Telescope, they can look through it and find out more about the Surreal World and its past. In order to receive the good ending of the game, the player has to look through all seven Special Telescopes. Otherwise, they will be prompted that they "missed something" after obtaining the bad ending.

Hub world
The game's unnamed hub world is set in a circus-esque world with a tent backdrop and a beige-coloured concrete flooring. In the hub world, the player can access the nine levels via doors corresponding to their respective level colours.

On the top left, there is an "Options" room, where the player can switch between Stereo and Mono sound, change the sound effect/music ratio, load, save or delete their data and change the game's language.

Crowbeard's Arcade
Every level from Circus Tunnels to Rocking Heights features an area called Crowbeard's Arcade. There are three different things the player can do here:
 * Talk to Crowbeard - Talking to Crowbeard gives two options; "What's Up?" simply makes Crowbeard talk about something random, whilst "Buy Drink" allows the player to buy a drink for a hundred Surreal Coins, which fully restores Penny's health. The drinks the player can buy are Lemon Sparkle, Blackberry Fizz and Crowbeard Cola. Whilst the player can choose which drink they buy, it does not make any difference to gameplay.
 * Hunt the Money Bag - Allows the player to play a minigame where they are in a small puzzle room and have to locate a money bag hidden somewhere within a 1-minute time limit. The player receives fifty Surreal Coins for every room they solve, and they can also collect singular Surreal Coins throughout the room. There are twenty different rooms, and each one is chosen at random.
 * Play the Minigame - Allows the player to play the arcade's minigame, which is different depending on the level. It costs anywhere from twenty to a hundred Surreal Coins (depending on the level) to play the minigame, and winning gives Penny an upgrade which is needed to advance in the level.

Upgrades
Upgrades are obtained after completing the minigame at each level's Crowbeard Arcade. Each upgrade goves Penny a new move, and also changes her appearance slightly. Upgrades are permanent once they are obtained.

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.

Music
The game's music was composed by Gregory Ross, though the vocal-orientated songs were produced by Mike P. Morrison.

Penny's voice actor, Lizzie Dennison sang a few songs for the game's soundtrack, including "Gotta Get Outta Here!", a jazzy funk song that plays in Surreal Halls. Most levels in the game also have a lipstick rap song performed by Dennison, which plays in some of the level's puzzle rooms. These feature Dennison rapping through Penny's perspective, often relating to the level's theme or recent plot events. For example, one of the songs is about Penny feeling distracted in her adventure due to her feelings for Nathan.

GameCube vs. Xbox version

 * A glitch in the GameCube PAL version where two button presses will sometimes be registered instead of one was fixed in the Xbox version.
 * Arthur's instruction prompts are slightly different to match up with the controls of the console being played.
 * The file-selection screen is different in both versions. In the GameCube version, the player chooses saves in a 3D environment, whilst in the Xbox version, the player is instead given a standard file-selection menu.
 * In the Xbox version, the player is allowed to have up to four save files. In the GameCube version, the player is only allowed one save file per memory card, but is also given a "Guest" slot, which does not save progress.
 * The Xbox version allows save files to be named (maximum ten characters).
 * Holding down the B button in the Xbox version allows Penny to do her kicking attack continuously. In the GameCube version, holding down the B button only makes her kick one.
 * Loading times in the Xbox version are a bit shorter compared to the GameCube version.
 * The debug menu is not present in the Xbox version.

PAL vs. NTSC version

 * The glitch in the GameCube PAL version where the game would sometimes register two buttons at once was fixed in the NTSC version.
 * The option to change the language was removed in the NTSC. The flags which the player walks up to in order to change the language are still in the same position, however.
 * Due to the ratio change, the NTSC version of the game is slightly faster paced than the PAL version.
 * Likely due to North America having a stricter rating system than the United Kingdom and Kuboia at the time, the North American version of the game received some censorship.
 * Penny's quote where she shouts "What the hell?" was shortened to simply "What?" in the NTSC version.
 * Penny's skirt is slightly longer in the NTSC version.
 * Some of the cutscenes, such as Amrock killing some of his victims, are censored in the NTSC version.

Sales
Penny's Paradox World was a commercial success. The GameCube version sold 100,000 copies in Europe as of December 2003. In 2007, game director Juliet Diaz revealed that the GameCube and Xbox versions had sold a combined total of 1.9 million copies worldwide. In 2004, the GameCube version was rereleased as a Player's Choice title.

Critical reception
Penny's Paradox World received generally positive reviews from critics, with praise going towards the gameplay, visuals and soundtrack. British magazine Nintendo Official Magazine wrote that "despite its girly protagonist, Penny's Paradox World is a fun, addictive game which is suitable for beginners but also challenging at the same time". IGN awarded the game a 7/10, calling the game "exciting and jam-packed", but also claiming that the game is over too quick.

Kalina Thames of Gamez4Net awarded the game a full 10/10, calling the game a "masterpiece", further adding "despite a lack of multiplayer, Penny's Paradox World is practically everything a game should be - great gameplay, beautiful visuals, a funny yet dark storyline and loads of interesting ideas". She concluded that the game will "become a acclaimed favourite at best, a cult classic at worst".

The game received some criticism in regards to its voice acting. A review from GameSpot argued that the characters "sound like they are from a preschool cartoon". A few critics considered Arthur annoying, and labelled him an annoying interruption. A noticeably negative review from Gaming Age criticised the plot as being silly, and further went on to pan the "karoul-ish" rap songs and stating that the game has too much unnecessary backtracking.

Legacy
In more recent times, the game has became a cult classic. As of 2021, copies of the game are selling online for approximately €120. A ten-part non-commentated YouTube playthrough by a channel called MirasGamingShack was uploaded in September 2017, with each video having an average of 4 million views.

Animated series
An animated series based on the show premiered on KT in January 2004. Taking place shortly after the events of the game, the show focuses on the adventures Penny, Nathan and Arthur have in the Surreal World following its major renovation. A total of twelve 14-minute episodes were produced and aired.

Tropes

 * Penny's Paradox World/Tropes
 * Penny's Paradox World/YMMV
 * Penny's Paradox World/Trivia