Streaming Star Spends Thirty-Seven Straight Trying to Conquer <em>The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a Single Stick

You might assume that two years post-launch since Tears of the Kingdom arrived, enthusiasts would have run out of creative challenge runs that impose unique restrictions on a gameplay session. However, while many gamers have attempted to complete Tears of the Kingdom with only a stick, content creator PointCrow holds the record as the individual who endeavored to beat the game with a single stick—specifically, the very same one throughout.

The streamer is renowned for such difficult playthroughs, such as the time he played the title solely with explosives or the attempt where he tried to beat the game with no energy. A one-branch playthrough, however, sounds impossible at first glance. There's the opening sequence, which forces the hero to use the legendary blade. Additionally, there's the entire durability system, which is particularly relevant when dealing with the weakest tool in the entire game. Yet if the branch breaks, that's it. Game over.

So, How?

How did he do it? The straightforward explanation is exploits. The full answer, I kid you not, is alternate dimensions. It turns out, you can tweak the game's saving mechanism to have distinct playthroughs that affect one another. So PointCrow does a “setup” file where he advances standardly, and the real file, where he's limited. The preparatory save has him going through the prologue and first tutorial island, and this character gains full stamina and hearts. From this point, he triggers a cinematic and pauses partway through to tell the software to load an auto-save from the branch-only file. The game gets mixed up and generates a new save file that merges the states of the first two files.

That causes fresh problems, though. The merged save file has a protagonist that never obtain the capability to access sacred places. Fortunately, this is something that the file exploit fixes readily, but pulling it off means depending on an buggy build of the title that fails to load some areas. Like everything else, he has a clever solution for it: He starts Tears of the Kingdom on its early 1.0 build, and then patches the software midway through to make sure it begins working properly.

Overcoming Durability and Additional Challenges

Interestingly, the introductory version of Link is coded so that he is unable to break any tools he wields, presumably to prevent a scenario where the player gets trapped at the start of the adventure. But that's also how the streamer gets around the durability issue, as the character he pulls across dimensions is the version from the start of the game. It's a smart trick, but not a method that eradicates all potential friction. The branch is still a ineffective item that renders battles tedious. But at that point, it's entirely a question of determination and dedication. It also helps that there's a copying exploit that grants him an abundant number of items to improve his attack, or stock up on revival fairies. He additionally employs a glitch that enables him to clip through the environment. A few would find these means grounds to question the validity of the run, but to my view, he's a resourceful gamer who is ready to do whatever it takes to entertain his viewer. He also uses a penalty of sorts stipulating that, for each fairy he uses, he'll ban a viewer from his Twitch chat, creating an motivation to not overly rely on them.

Major Battles and the Last Showdown

The streamer succeeds to get through many of Tears of the Kingdom's main enemies, but the fights look painful. The video edit of his quest doesn't make the viewer endure the whole fights, which is a good thing when a few of them take several hours. A particular boss fight, Queen Gibdo, requires an astonishing 23 straight. The Ganondorf battle, which depletes the hero's hearts as it progresses, is a notable tense moment. The indestructible stick is after all only a piece of wood. He is unable to necessarily duplicate items midway the battle.

So, is it possible? Technically, PointCrow does overcome the beast form of the antagonist. But the game forces the user to use the legendary weapon as the final strike, so strictly speaking, it's not completely a stick-only playthrough. But what fun is that?

When everything is said and done, PointCrow banned over a thousand users in his Twitch chat. Rest in peace.