If people are equally matched, no items can be really fun because it can get tense and you never know who is going to win.
 
However for me that never happens. The only time it came close is when I had a friend who mainly played Mario, and the other would play Marth. Whoever played Marth always won because of his long range + quick attacks. Then whoever would play the other person’s character would always lose. Didn’t get to play long enough to try other characters either.  
Any other time I’d play against other people I’d do 1v2 or 1v3 (and sometimes fill in blanks with level 9 computers) because no one is even close. I’m not claiming to be the best player either, I don’t even do any of those fancy “teching” moves anyways (also because they seem like glitches).
 

 
 
With all that said, I usually have the items on because it just makes each match that much more random.  
The only time I didn’t when I was playing melee and just playing casually is when I would play Marth + Roy vs Link+Young Link because I’m a sucker for hearing the swords clash.
 
 
So I’m in total support of items and tripping. Some people even complain about items being unbalanced but I’m totally fine with that because of the random nature of items makes it fun.
 
@Kazapsky  
It wouldn’t be trollish to the intended audience as it would not effect much if at all. It would be trolling the people that try to make the smash bros series a competitive game and hosting tournaments for prizes and such.  
When you have hundreds, maybe thousands of dollars on the line, you’d probably get really pissed if you lost the game because of something not related to the enemy player that caused your death.  
Personally, I would never play a game for money (applying to all games, not just smash bros). It seems like gambling to me if you don’t know if someone else’s playstyle. It also makes people get frustrated too easily.

Too bad we will never have moments like this in the game again.
 
Although that’s not a huge loss. As long as Soccer Balls are back…

@Beau Skunky
 
Do “Homerun Bat only” on a map that has enclosed spaces. Super Smash Pinball.

@GargantuanBass  
Yeah, frankly, I think the items are part of the fun of SSB. (Like Mario Kart wouldn’t be the same without items.)  
Whenever I play with friends we always crank them up to the maximum. Sometimes we disable a few, or have matches like “Hammers only” or “bombs only,” and watch things get crazy.

@Keyintheshoe  
I’ll never understand the “no items” thing.

@Keyintheshoe
 
What would be trollish about maintaining a mechanic the game was designed around? If you’re playing without items, you’re not really playing SSB.

PRAISE BE UNTO SAKURAI!!

I think tripping should be an optional thing, just like the items. Keeps things interesting when you’re just doing friendly matches, and then turn it off if you’re doing tests of skills against other people.
 
You know how much of a troll move it’d be if they removed tripping, but forced items to be in the game? =)
 
I’m just wondering, is this only Random tripping, or do moves that force tripping still be in there? Like Diddy Kong’s bananas.

I wasn’t really bothered by that in Brawl personally, I guess it didn’t happen to me to often, but admittedly it was a bit annoying at times.
 
Personally I prefered Brawl over Melee, but hopefully in the next SSB game they don’t make the CPU opponents so prone to grabbing items so quickly, or spotting them off-screen so easily.

Settles it. When this game comes out, SMASH PARTY INSIDE THE TARDIS!

game confirmed for being better than Brawl. i wonder though, if it’ll replace Project M/Melee in my heart

SSB confirmed for GOTY

thank you Sakurai

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nice.

Yes!  
Let’s pour the bubbly!

That’s it, I’m getting a Wii U/3DS. Somehow.