Pros and Items... how does this work?

[Raustblackdragon]

"The unanimous decision of pro smashers, however, is that items should be banned in tournaments."

I remember reading this somewhere.

I am neither a pro or an item hater.

I can only conclude that this means one of two things:

1: If I train really hard and become a tournament contender, somewhere in the middle of it all I'm guaranteed to have some revelation that makes me hate items,

or:

2: Until I renounce my support for items, it is impossible for me to gain the skill to become a tournament contender.



Which is the case?

 

[cuppiecakes]

Iunno, but I'd say 1. After a while you'd probably get tired of how inexperienced players can easily kill you with random items even though you've got a lot of skill. In some cases, some items can be weak or take skill to use well, but others can be really powerful and take little to no skill to get an easy KO.

But I enjoy items, fun :3

 

[Finch]

Items are great in FFA. Try actually playing 1v1 with items, then you should understand.

 

[CT Chia]

if u become a tourney contender ul learn to hate items, almost guaranteed. youl get better at the game, get more skill, then play a match with items against someone who is far worse than u are, and die because of something like a bomb or a crazy pokemon. for fun its cool an all, but in tourneys you want the skill to show.

 

[ZenJestr]

in my opinion, items where made for F4A...4 people fighting each other is enough chaos...so let's add more...items are perfect for free for alls...

but 1v1 matches don't make good item matches for me...

please note that anything people tell you in this thread is entirely their opinion and should not be taken as law...

 

[ihavespaceblondes]

Most non-tournament players have less control over their characters, and can't or don't use all of the abilities and moves available to them. As such, 1v1 no-items matches can get really boring and stale, because it will consist mostly of rolling back and forth, dash attacks, spamming various smashes, and full jumping at each other with aerials. So casual players often prefer FFAs with items, because it makes a boring game interesting.

Tournament players try to learn and master as many aspects of as many characters as possible. This means that you'll have an almost unlimited number of options at any given time, and thinking through how to approach another player who has all the same possibilities (character dependent) as you, and reacting to each others movements and attacks, and then starting and avoiding combos, and keeping yourself from being too predictable... it's all amazingly fun. So competitive players almost always prefer no-item 1v1s on neutral stages, because it puts the focus on an amazingly interesting and fast-paced game.

tl;dr: Casual-level SSBM doesn't offer enough to keep most players interested without items, variable stages, and/or multiple opponents. Competitive-level SSBM has more than enough possibilities for interesting and fun gameplay, to the point that items and overly complex stages sometimes just seem to get in the way. Many tournament players still like using them for fun, but the core game is still the most enjoyable.

 

[mthegreatone]

as an aside...anyone considered doing 1v1 matches with ONLY baseball bat item?

seriously though it really does boil down to if you WANT to play competitively. no one's going to force it on you to play expert level. you can have just as much fun playing with items in a casual environment.

that's why item options are available to begin with i'd wager...

 

[ArgentStew]

I think it's much more likely that you'll learn to hate items... You should play me... I'm a decent player, but I get so lucky on item drops that I taught the casual players I know to hate items as well...

 

[ComradeSAL]

Most non-tournament players have less control over their characters, and can't or don't use all of the abilities and moves available to them. As such, 1v1 no-items matches can get really boring and stale, because it will consist mostly of rolling back and forth, dash attacks, spamming various smashes, and full jumping at each other with aerials. So casual players often prefer FFAs with items, because it makes a boring game interesting.

Tournament players try to learn and master as many aspects of as many characters as possible. This means that you'll have an almost unlimited number of options at any given time, and thinking through how to approach another player who has all the same possibilities (character dependent) as you, and reacting to each others movements and attacks, and then starting and avoiding combos, and keeping yourself from being too predictable... it's all amazingly fun. So competitive players almost always prefer no-item 1v1s on neutral stages, because it puts the focus on an amazingly interesting and fast-paced game.

tl;dr: Casual-level SSBM doesn't offer enough to keep most players interested without items, variable stages, and/or multiple opponents. Competitive-level SSBM has more than enough possibilities for interesting and fun gameplay, to the point that items and overly complex stages sometimes just seem to get in the way. Many tournament players still like using them for fun, but the core game is still the most enjoyable.

This is an excellent post and sums things up nicely.