Twitch Personality Spends 37 Straight Attempting to Beat <em>The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom</em> With Only a One Stick

You might assume that after two years since Tears of the Kingdom debuted, enthusiasts would have run out of creative self-imposed challenges that impose special rules on a gameplay session. However, while many gamers have attempted to complete Tears of the Kingdom using only a stick, streamer the streamer holds the record as the individual who endeavored to clear the game with a one branch—specifically, the very same one throughout.

The streamer is renowned for such challenge runs, like the time he went through the game solely with explosives or the effort where he aimed to beat the story with zero stamina. A single stick playthrough, however, sounds impossible at first glance. There's the game's introduction, which forces Link to wield the legendary blade. Additionally, there's the entire durability mechanic, which is especially important when working with the most fragile weapon in the whole world. Yet if the stick shatters, that's it. Game over.

The Method Behind the Madness

How did he do it? The simple explanation is glitches. The full story, believe it or not, is alternate dimensions. Apparently, you can tweak Tears of the Kingdom's save file system to have separate game sessions that impact one another. So PointCrow creates a “preparation” file where he advances standardly, and the real save, where he's limited. The setup file has him completing the intro and initial tutorial island, and this character gains maximum endurance and health. From this point, he starts a cutscene and pauses midway through to instruct the game to open an auto-save from the stick file. The game gets confused and generates a new game file that combines the conditions of the first two files.

That creates fresh issues, however. The merged save file has a Link that did not acquired the ability to enter sacred places. Luckily, this is an issue that the file exploit addresses readily, but executing it means relying on an unstable version of the title that refuses to open certain locations. As with other obstacles, he has a technical solution for it: He starts the game on its pre-release 1.0 build, and then patches the software partway through to make sure it begins working properly.

Overcoming Durability and Additional Hurdles

Curiously, the introductory version of the hero is coded so that he cannot damage any tools he uses, likely to avoid a scenario where the player gets trapped at the beginning of the adventure. But that's additionally how PointCrow bypasses the durability problem, as the Link he transfers between dimensions is the one from the start of the game. It's a clever technique, but not one that eliminates all potential friction. The stick is still a ineffective item that renders battles onerous. But at that stage, it's entirely a question of determination and dedication. It further aids that there's a duplication glitch that grants him an abundant number of items to boost his attack, or accumulate on revival fairies. He additionally makes use of a glitch that enables him to clip through the world. A few would consider these methods grounds to discredit the legitimacy of the attempt, but in my mind, he's a resourceful player who is willing to do anything necessary to engage his audience. He further uses a penalty of sorts stipulating that, for every spirit he uses, he'll ban one fan from his live stream, establishing an motivation to avoid depend too much on them.

Major Battles and the Last Showdown

The streamer succeeds to get through several of the game's bosses, but the fights appear grueling. The YouTube edit of his quest doesn't make the viewer endure the entire conflicts, which is a blessing when some of them last multiple hours. One enemy encounter, Queen Gibdo, requires an incredible 23 straight. The final villain battle, which depletes Link's hearts as it unfolds, is a notable tense moment. The indestructible branch is after all just a stick. He is unable to always clone items midway the battle.

Did he succeed? Technically, PointCrow does overcome the beast form of the antagonist. But the software forces the player to wield the Master Sword as the final strike, so strictly speaking, it's not completely a branch-exclusive playthrough. But what fun is that?

When everything is said and done, the streamer banned more than a thousand people in his live stream. Rest in peace.