Full Review by Red Herring
"3DS Pedia." Good old Nintendo, hm? As one of three colossal giants of the gaming industry, the vast majority of the gaming community should be at least familiar with them. I myself am no stranger to this rule; a child of the early 90's, the then popular Sega consoles quickly became dated and the new, exciting Playstation was out of my family's price range. Thus, it was the N-64 that eventually came to be
my nostalgia console; one that I still look back on fondly to this very day. In fact, while we're on the subject of nostalgia, I'll note that
one of my very early reviews under the Forum Promotion Review Team was one relating to Nintendo, or at least, its flagship franchise: the Mario series.
The Mario Forums, so it was named. It was a basic name; one founded in simplicity, but it certainly got the point right out there in plain view for any potential visitors. My review deemed it to be a wonderful community. Unfortunately, I also found it to be sorely lacking in any actual content or discussion relating to Mario; functioning more as a general discussion board with Mario-related elements. Thus, it was met with a sadly mediocre review. Why bring this up in a review for 3DS Pedia, however? They're entirely unrelated, right? Well, not quite.
To put it simply, they both suffer from similar problems. Whereas "The Mario Forums" suffered from a exceptional lack of content however, 3DS Pedia fights a different goomba.
Before we get into that...
...Let's first take a look at the other, mostly positive aspects, shall we? Starting with a bit of history complimented by an analysis of
Activity, 3DS Pedia was founded in August of 2013, if my perception of its history is correct. Since its founding, 3DS Pedia has garnered a total of 58,000+ posts and 800+ members. While it may not be a truly exceptional growth rate, it is nonetheless impressive and something that should most certainly be commended. Few forums ever pass the 50,000 mark in its first year, and 3DS Pedia has done so with time to spare. Of course, some of these statistics are the result of a
merge with another Nintendo community: The Nintendo Forums. I am, however, confident that 3DS Pedia has done well enough on its own, and this recent merge with the Nintendo Forums will serve only to bolster its already impressive growth rate.
It's all well and dandy, but the above analysis only encompasses the statistical data relating to the forum. In reality, 3DS Pedia is not merely a discussion board, but also an entire website, though you may have had difficulty coming to that realization if everything wasn't on the same domain name. Allow me to present you with the first taste of inconsistency that 3DS Pedia has unfortunately come to suffer from.
"Nintendo? Nintendon't."
Quite the contrast in
Aesthetics. Even the logos are quite different from one another. They may as well be different websites entirely, albeit ones catering to the same subject. I understand the difficulty that comes from attempting to unify website design across softwares, but I feel it's important that they at least maintain some consistency, so that users can feel that they are connected; that they're the same website. These two designs are like night and day; one being a drab, monotone, almost colorless domain while the other is practically drenched in a vibrant variation of color.
I don't mean to pick on the homepage website, but I really must say that the minimalist monotone design is unfitting for a Nintendo-based website; even one that focuses on a specific handheld console. Nintendo's products, their games, are almost universally associated with bright, vibrant arrays of color. And a website should mirror that which it's based in. The only connection I can make with to Nintendo through the homepage's design is the logo, itself seeming almost forcibly pacified; a simple font, an odd suppressed tiedye-esque mix of purple, blue and green, finished off with a koopa that doesn't belong. Neither the design nor the logo itself are "bad" per se, but both are boring and certainly ill-fitted.
When it comes to a design that properly emulates Nintendo's atmosphere, the forum's theme is the clear winner here. The background with Peach's Castle and a bright green environment, while a bit low-res than I'd like, is quite colorful and properly sets the Nintendo atmosphere. And the lovely splashes of blue and white found across the board serve greatly to compliment it. Unfortunately, this beautiful array of color is marred by several flaws within the design.
The forum's logo is one such flaw. Quite regrettable, as I didn't find much appeal in the homepage's either. I saw where the design was going, but it didn't quite get there. The concept is decent, but the blending is poor. It almost feels as though the logo is separated into three different entities, and the fault lies almost entirely with the red "3" of the "3DS." The original intent of it being a contrast design would've have worked well if not for the blue "Pedia." Between these two, the colors contrast, but they don't properly mesh; leaving behind a logo that feels disconnected...from itself.
If only the logo were my primary concern. Sadly, it's not. This next issue throws off and dilutes both the design as well as the board
Structure.
Those accursed side boxes. I know of many an individual that enjoy, and have fully embraced the presence of side-boxes in Xenforo and forum design in general, I assume for the extra functionality they bring to the table. I don't see them in the same appreciative light due to their tendency to cause clutter and imbalance board structure, but I can condone them when they're few in number. On 3DS Pedia, however, they're not exactly few in number. To be frank, it feels like an e-warehouse of some sort. There are boxes everywhere I look, right down to the very footer. It's not helped by the facts of there already being a shoutbox and an information box. At this point, they're practically overpowering the board itself, and entire layout just looks like a massive stack of clutter.
The homepage handles this a lot better, with the structure being clean and still maintaining a fair amount of functionality. In fact, it may not be "cluttered" enough to compliment the diversity of articles available on 3DS Pedia: reviews, news, "accessories", tutorials, etc. All of this is filtered into one single blog column, which means it's the articles themselves that end up cluttered and disorganized. Perhaps the forum and the homepage should swap their structural design? Ta ha.
The structural issues end there with the homepage, but not with the forum I'm afraid. In addition to the massive clutter of boxes, the forum structure itself is about as much of a mess as it can be without being outright incoherent or difficult to navigate. And it finally leads me into the one critical flaw I see in this website,
INCONSISTENCY
You see, the website is called "3DS Pedia", but the forum is structured as though it were more of a general Nintendo board. Sure, it features a category with several franchises that contain a 3DS title release or two, but those franchises have also existed for a very long time with titles released in a variety of different consoles, which make them all more of a general board for popular Nintendo franchises. Meanwhile, there's an inherent lack 3DS-related forums. And the ones that are available are not even in the same category.
Ignoring that discrepancy for the moment in favor of another, this forum structure seems quite peculiar even without the 3DS oddity. Why do we have an entire category filled with Nintendo franchises only to end with two forums for 3DS and Wii U games in general? Yes, they are for general discussion of titles outside of those franchises, but the same goes for the category below it. There's a general Nintendo Discussion forum and several console discussion forums, and then there's an Old School Nintendo Gaming forum for discussing both games and consoles in the older generation of Nintendo. So that makes two categories dedicated to the discussion of Nintendo games, one which mixes in franchises and another that mixes in general/console discussion, which makes for a very perplexing, and even poor, structure. It's especially odd that the console gaming forums would be separated from their discussion forums in the first place, and considering how long the franchise category is and how much it causes imbalance to the index, they really shouldn't be separated. And why isn't there more 3DS oriented content on a 3DS oriented forum?
I may just be a little nitpicky in regards to the name, "3DS Pedia." Branching out can be important, and many Nintendo fans would be discontent to merely discuss the 3DS and its titles. However, inconsistency again comes into play here between the homepage and the forum, the homepage being chock-full of 3DS exclusive
Content while the forum's coverage of it is rather lacking.
In fact, the problem with 3DS Pedia's content itself is not that it's lacking in quantity or quality. It's simply inconsistent with itself. The homepage is host to some excellent reviews of 3DS titles, a library of 3DS titles, eShop giveaways, etc. The forum is rife with active discussion and clearly has a wonderful community. However, the content on the forum is not consistent with the purpose of a 3DS website, and the content on the homepage is not consistent with the forum. Structure is very peculiar and the content simply doesn't match up.
To Summarize
My follow-up score to this summary may be intimidating, but 3DS Pedia is by no means a bad community. In fact, it's a great community; featuring active discussion, many topics to discuss and a variety of quality content to enjoy. Inherently, there is nothing wrong, beyond a few hiccups and minor flaws. The critical issue here is that its structure and content are so incredibly inconsistent to itself, it almost feels as though it's suffering an identity crisis: does it want to be a Nintendo forum or a 3DS forum? One cannot say in its current state. Combined with the awkward structure, the inconsistency really drives a knife into my final verdict for this community, and I advise that it be amended ASAP.
Regardless, I am by no means saying this is a community you shouldn't visit. Inconsistency does not make it incoherent or an unenjoyable experience, and I do recommend this community to any Nintendo enthusiast. All it really needs at this point is some tender loving care to ensure everything falls in place. With that in mind, I offer my sincerest regards to you, 3DS Pedia. Whatever path you walk, whatever road you travel, I wish you the very best of luck.
Final Verdict
43 out of 100
Strengths:
- - Robust and stalwart activity for a newer board.
- Large quantity of quality content.
Weaknesses:
- - Inconsistency rampant throughout the entire domain.
- Inconsistent forum structure with a lacking in 3DS-oriented discussion.
- Inconsistent purpose. Routinely rotates between being a general Nintendo board and a 3DS website.
- Cluttered forum design which is, again, inconsistent with the website itself.
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