Twitch Star Dedicates 37 Hours Attempting to Conquer <em>The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom</em> With Only a Single Stick

You might assume that after two years since Tears of the Kingdom arrived, enthusiasts would have exhausted creative self-imposed challenges that apply special rules on a playthrough. However, although numerous players have tried to finish the game using only a stick, streamer PointCrow stands out as the individual who aimed to beat the game with a one stick—specifically, the exact same one from start to finish.

PointCrow is famous for these kinds of challenge runs, such as the instance he played the game solely with bombs or the attempt where he aimed to defeat the game with no stamina. A single stick playthrough, however, sounds impossible at face value. There's the game's introduction, which requires Link to use the Master Sword. Additionally, there's the entire weapon wear mechanic, which is particularly important when working with the weakest tool in the whole world. But if the branch shatters, that's it. It's over.

The Method Behind the Madness

So, how? The simple answer is exploits. The complete answer, believe it or not, is alternate dimensions. Apparently, you can manipulate the game's save file system to have distinct playthroughs that impact one another. So PointCrow creates a “setup” file where he progresses normally, and the real save, where he's limited. The setup file has him completing the prologue and initial starting area, and this character acquires full endurance and health. From here, he triggers a cutscene and halts midway through to instruct the software to open an automatic save from the branch-only file. The system gets mixed up and creates a third game file that merges the conditions of the original two.

That creates new problems, however. The merged save file has a Link that never obtain the ability to enter shrines. Fortunately, this is something that the save glitch addresses easily, but pulling it off means relying on an unstable version of the title that fails to load some locations. As with everything else, he has a clever solution for it: He begins the game on its pre-release 1.0 build, and then patches the game midway through to make sure it begins functioning correctly.

Overcoming Weapon Wear and Additional Challenges

Curiously, the introductory form of the hero is coded so that he is unable to break any weapons he wields, likely to avoid a scenario where the user gets stuck at the start of the game. But that's additionally how PointCrow gets around the wear issue, as the character he transfers across dimensions is the one from the beginning of the story. It's a clever technique, but not a method that eliminates all possible friction. The stick is still a weak weapon that renders battles onerous. But at that stage, it's all a question of determination and perseverance. It also helps that there's a copying exploit that gives him an abundant number of items to improve his attack, or stock up on revival fairies. He additionally makes use of a glitch that enables Link to clip through the world. Some would consider these methods grounds to discredit the validity of the run, but to my view, he's a resourceful gamer who is willing to do anything necessary to entertain his viewer. He also uses a safeguard of sorts stating that, for every fairy he uses, he'll ban one viewer from his Twitch chat, creating an motivation to avoid overly rely on them.

Boss Fights and the Final Encounter

The streamer manages to defeat many of the game's bosses, but the fights appear painful. The YouTube edit of his quest spares the audience endure the whole conflicts, which is a good thing when some of them take several long hours. A particular enemy encounter, a powerful foe, takes an astonishing twenty-three straight. The final villain battle, which erases the hero's health as it unfolds, is a memorable tense moment. The indestructible stick is after all just a piece of wood. He can't always duplicate objects during the fight.

So, is it possible? In a matter of speaking, PointCrow manages to overcome the beast form of Ganon. But the game forces the user to wield the legendary weapon as the last strike, so technically, it's not completely a branch-exclusive playthrough. But where's the challenge in that?

In the end, the streamer banned over a thousand people in his live stream. Rest in peace.