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

One could think that after two years since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom debuted, fans would have exhausted creative challenge runs that apply unique restrictions on a gameplay session. However, while numerous players have tried to complete the game with just a stick, streamer the streamer holds the record as the individual who aimed to clear the adventure with a one branch—specifically, the very same stick throughout.

PointCrow is famous for these kinds of challenge runs, like the instance he played the title using only bombs or the effort where he aimed to defeat the story with zero energy. A single stick run, though, seems unfeasible at face value. There's the opening sequence, which requires Link to wield the Master Sword. Then, there's the entire durability mechanic, which is particularly relevant when working with the weakest weapon in the entire game. But if the stick shatters, that's the end. It's over.

So, How?

So, how? The straightforward explanation is glitches. The complete story, I kid you not, is parallel universes. Apparently, you can manipulate Tears of the Kingdom's saving mechanism to have separate game sessions that affect one another. So PointCrow creates a “setup” save where he advances standardly, and the real save, where he's limited. The setup file has him going through the prologue and initial starting area, and this Link gains full endurance and hearts. From this point, he starts a cutscene and pauses partway through to instruct the software to load an auto-save from the branch-only file. The system gets mixed up and creates a new game file that merges the conditions of the original two.

That creates new issues, though. The fused file has a Link that never acquired the capability to enter shrines. Fortunately, this is an issue that the file exploit fixes readily, but pulling it off means relying on an buggy build of the title that fails to load some locations. As with everything else, he has a technical workaround 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 starts working properly.

Bypassing Weapon Wear and Additional Challenges

Interestingly, the introductory version of the hero is programmed so that he is unable to damage any weapons he wields, likely to prevent a situation where the player gets trapped at the beginning of the adventure. But that's additionally how PointCrow bypasses the durability issue, as the Link he transfers between universes is the version from the beginning of the game. It's a smart trick, but not one that eliminates all potential friction. The stick is nonetheless a weak item that renders encounters onerous. But at that point, it's all a question of determination and perseverance. It further aids that there's a duplication glitch that gives him an abundant number of items to improve his attack, or accumulate on healing spirits. He also makes use of a bug that enables Link to phase through the world. Some would find these means grounds to question the validity of the run, but to my view, he's a resourceful gamer who is willing to do anything necessary to engage his viewer. He also uses a safeguard of sorts stipulating that, for every spirit he employs, he'll ban a fan from his Twitch chat, creating an motivation to not overly rely on them.

Boss Fights and the Last Encounter

PointCrow manages to get through many of the game's main enemies, but the battles look grueling. The YouTube version of his quest doesn't make the audience sit through the entire conflicts, which is a blessing when a few of them last multiple hours. A particular boss fight, Queen Gibdo, takes an incredible 23 straight. The final villain battle, which erases Link's hearts as it unfolds, is a memorable nail-biter. The indestructible branch is still just a stick. He is unable to always clone items during the battle.

So, is it possible? In a matter of speaking, he does overcome the beast form of the antagonist. But the software forces the user to wield the legendary weapon as the last strike, so strictly speaking, it's not quite fully a stick-only playthrough. But what fun is that?

When everything is said and done, PointCrow banned more than 1,000 users in his live stream. Rest in peace.