Streaming Star Spends 37 Straight Trying to Beat <em>The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a Single Stick

You might assume that after two years since Tears of the Kingdom debuted, fans would have exhausted creative challenge runs that impose unique rules on a gameplay session. Yet, while numerous players have tried to complete Tears of the Kingdom using just a stick, streamer the streamer holds the record as the individual who aimed to clear the game with a single branch—meaning, the very same stick throughout.

The streamer is renowned for such challenge runs, such as the time he went through the title solely with bombs or the attempt where he aimed to beat the game with no energy. A single stick playthrough, however, seems impossible at face value. There's the opening sequence, which requires Link to use the Master Sword. Then, there's the whole weapon wear mechanic, which is particularly relevant when working with the weakest weapon in the entire world. Yet if the branch shatters, that's the end. It's over.

The Method Behind the Madness

So, how? The simple explanation is glitches. The full story, believe it or not, is parallel universes. Apparently, you can manipulate the game's save file system to have distinct game sessions that affect one another. So the creator creates a “setup” save where he advances normally, and the real file, where he's restricted. The setup save has him completing the intro and initial tutorial island, and this character gains maximum endurance and hearts. From here, he starts a cutscene and pauses midway through to instruct the game to open an automatic save from the stick file. The game gets mixed up and creates a new save file that combines the conditions of the first two files.

That causes new issues, though. The fused save file has a Link that never obtain the capability to enter sacred places. Fortunately, 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 certain locations. As with everything else, he has a clever solution for it: He starts Tears of the Kingdom on its pre-release 1.0 build, and then patches the game midway through to make sure it starts working properly.

Bypassing Weapon Wear and Other Hurdles

Curiously, the introductory version of Link is coded so that he cannot break any tools he uses, presumably to prevent a situation where the player gets trapped at the beginning of the adventure. But that's additionally how the streamer gets around the durability problem, as the character he transfers between dimensions is the version from the beginning of the story. It's a clever technique, but not one that eradicates all possible friction. The stick is nonetheless a weak item that makes encounters tedious. But at that stage, it's all a matter of determination and perseverance. It also helps that there's a duplication glitch that gives him an abundant supply of consumables to improve his strength, or accumulate on revival fairies. He additionally makes use of a bug that allows Link to clip through the world. A few would consider these means reason to discredit the legitimacy of the attempt, but to my view, he's a inventive player who is ready to do anything necessary to entertain his viewer. He further implements a safeguard of kinds stipulating that, for every spirit he employs, he'll remove one viewer from his Twitch chat, establishing an incentive to not depend too much on them.

Boss Fights and the Last Showdown

PointCrow succeeds to get through many of Tears of the Kingdom's main enemies, but the battles look grueling. The YouTube version of his journey doesn't make the audience endure the whole conflicts, which is a blessing when some of them take several long hours. One boss fight, a powerful foe, requires an incredible 23 straight. The final villain battle, which erases Link's health as it progresses, is a notable nail-biter. The indestructible branch is still just a piece of wood. He is unable to always duplicate items midway the fight.

So, is it possible? Technically, he manages to defeat the beast form of the antagonist. But the software forces the user to use the legendary weapon as the last attack, so technically, it's not fully a stick-only playthrough. But where's the challenge in that?

In the end, PointCrow removed over a thousand users in his Twitch chat. RIP.