Streaming Personality Dedicates 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 The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom arrived, enthusiasts would have exhausted creative challenge runs that apply unique rules on a playthrough. However, while many players have tried to complete Tears of the Kingdom using just a stick, content creator the streamer holds the record as the player who endeavored to clear the game with a single stick—specifically, the very same one from start to finish.

PointCrow is famous for these kinds of challenge runs, such as the instance he went through the title using only bombs or the effort where he aimed to defeat the game with no energy. A one-branch run, though, sounds unfeasible at first glance. There's the game's introduction, which forces the hero to use the Master Sword. Then, there's the entire durability system, which is particularly relevant when dealing with the most fragile weapon in the whole game. Yet if the stick breaks, that's the end. It's over.

The Method Behind the Madness

So, how? The straightforward explanation is exploits. The full story, believe it or not, is parallel universes. It turns out, you can manipulate the game's saving mechanism to have separate game sessions that affect one another. So PointCrow creates a “preparation” file where he progresses normally, and the actual file, where he's restricted. The preparatory save has him going through the intro and initial tutorial island, and this Link gains full stamina and health. From here, he starts a cinematic and pauses midway through to instruct the software to open an automatic save from the branch-only file. The game gets confused and generates a new save file that merges the states of the original two.

This creates new problems, 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 save glitch fixes readily, but pulling it off means depending on an unstable version of the game that refuses to load some locations. As with other obstacles, he has a technical workaround for it: He begins Tears of the Kingdom on its early version 1.0, and then patches the software partway through to ensure it begins functioning correctly.

Bypassing Durability and Other Challenges

Interestingly, the prologue version of Link is programmed so that he is unable to break any tools he uses, likely to prevent a situation where the user gets trapped at the start of the adventure. But that's additionally how PointCrow bypasses the wear issue, as the character he pulls across dimensions is the one from the start of the game. It's a smart technique, but not a method that eradicates all potential friction. The branch is nonetheless a weak weapon that makes encounters onerous. But at that point, it's entirely a question of determination and perseverance. It also aids that there's a duplication glitch that gives him an abundant number of items to boost his attack, or stock up on healing spirits. He also makes use of a glitch that enables Link to clip through the environment. Some would consider these means grounds to discredit the legitimacy of the run, but to my view, he's a inventive player who is willing to do anything necessary to engage his viewer. He also implements a safeguard of kinds stating that, for every spirit he employs, he'll ban one fan from his Twitch chat, creating an incentive to not overly rely on them.

Boss Fights and the Final Showdown

PointCrow succeeds to defeat many of the game's main enemies, but the fights appear grueling. The YouTube edit of his quest spares the audience sit through the entire fights, which is a blessing when a few of them last several hours. One enemy encounter, Queen Gibdo, requires an incredible twenty-three straight. The Ganondorf showdown, which depletes the hero's hearts as it unfolds, is a memorable nail-biter. The indestructible branch is still just a stick. He can't always clone items during the battle.

Did he succeed? In a matter of speaking, PointCrow manages to overcome the dragon version of the antagonist. But the software forces the user to use the legendary weapon as the last strike, so strictly speaking, it's not fully a stick-only playthrough. But what fun is that?

In the end, PointCrow removed over 1,000 people in his Twitch chat. Rest in peace.