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

One could think that two years post-launch since Tears of the Kingdom arrived, fans would have run out of novel challenge runs that impose unique restrictions on a playthrough. However, although numerous players have tried to finish Tears of the Kingdom with only a stick, streamer the streamer stands out as the player who aimed to clear the game with a one stick—specifically, the exact same one throughout.

PointCrow is renowned for such difficult playthroughs, like the instance he played the title using only bombs or the attempt where he tried to defeat the story with no stamina. A one-branch playthrough, however, sounds impossible at first glance. There's the opening sequence, which requires Link to wield the Master Sword. Additionally, there's the whole weapon wear system, which is particularly important when working with the most fragile weapon in the whole world. But if the stick shatters, that's it. It's over.

So, How?

So, how? The simple explanation is glitches. The complete answer, I kid you not, is parallel universes. Apparently, you can tweak Tears of the Kingdom's saving mechanism to have separate game sessions that affect one another. So PointCrow does a “setup” save where he progresses standardly, and the actual save, where he's limited. The preparatory save has him completing the intro and initial starting area, and this Link acquires maximum endurance and hearts. From this point, he starts a cinematic and halts midway through to instruct the software to load an automatic save from the branch-only file. The game gets confused and creates a third save file that merges the states of the original two.

This causes fresh issues, though. The fused save file has a Link that did not obtain the capability to access sacred places. Luckily, this is an issue that the file exploit fixes readily, but executing it means depending on an unstable version of the game that refuses to open some locations. As with everything else, he has a technical solution for it: He begins Tears of the Kingdom on its pre-release 1.0 build, and then updates the game midway through to make sure it begins functioning correctly.

Bypassing Durability and Other Hurdles

Interestingly, the introductory form of Link is programmed so that he cannot damage any weapons he wields, likely to avoid a situation where the user gets trapped at the beginning of the adventure. But that's additionally how PointCrow gets around the wear problem, as the Link he transfers between dimensions is the one from the start of the game. It's a smart technique, but not one that eliminates all possible difficulty. The stick is still a ineffective item that renders encounters onerous. But at that stage, it's all a matter of determination and dedication. It also aids that there's a copying exploit that gives him an plentiful supply of items to boost his strength, or accumulate on revival fairies. He additionally makes use of a glitch that allows him to phase through the environment. A few would find these methods grounds to question the legitimacy of the run, but in my mind, he's a resourceful gamer who is ready to do anything necessary to entertain his viewer. He also implements a safeguard of sorts stipulating that, for every spirit he uses, he'll remove a viewer from his live stream, creating an incentive to avoid depend too much on them.

Boss Fights and the Last Encounter

PointCrow manages to defeat several of the game's bosses, but the battles look painful. The video edit of his quest spares the audience sit through the entire conflicts, which is a blessing when some of them last several hours. A particular boss fight, a powerful foe, requires an incredible twenty-three straight. The final villain battle, which erases the hero's health as it unfolds, is a notable tense moment. The unbreakable branch is still only a stick. He is unable to necessarily clone objects during the battle.

Did he succeed? In a matter of speaking, PointCrow does overcome the dragon version of Ganon. But the game compels the user to wield the Master Sword as the last strike, so strictly speaking, it's not quite completely a branch-exclusive run. But what fun is that?

In the end, PointCrow removed over 1,000 users in his Twitch chat. RIP.