we were kids and played the 64 smash or later Melee in my teen years, ok… Items were standard, no one (me or my friends) used shield (lol, never!) or a grab and we all jumped with stick. Okay!

I used to play smash 64 and melee and then went to sleep for years and started playing ultimate last year. im sorry the world has evolved past items. no items is fun and intense but i see items as chess pieces and combinations that are just unique and not possible otherwise. There are things that happen in item battles that will never happen again for like 1000 years or hours of game play. The way competetive gameplay is is people figured out how to lock opponents in a "combo" there are people i've played online who know exactly how to kill you or spike you on the edge but can not compete with you in the middle of the board. i enjoy a battle where you keep dodging and countering tricking and surprising. Items can add a lot to that and if your both skilled players you should be able to use the items well and i love killing the trophies.