Twitch Star Dedicates 37 Hours Attempting to Conquer <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a Single Stick

You might assume that two years post-launch since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom debuted, enthusiasts would have run out of novel challenge runs that impose unique rules on a gameplay session. However, although many gamers have tried to complete Tears of the Kingdom with just a wooden stick, content creator PointCrow holds the record as the individual who aimed to beat the adventure with a one stick—specifically, the exact same stick from start to finish.

PointCrow is famous for such challenge runs, such as the time he went through the game solely with bombs or the attempt where he aimed to defeat the game with zero energy. A one-branch run, though, sounds unfeasible at face value. There's the game's introduction, which forces Link to wield the Master Sword. Additionally, there's the whole weapon wear system, which is particularly important when working with the weakest weapon in the entire world. But if the stick breaks, that's the end. Game over.

So, How?

How did he do it? The simple explanation is exploits. The full story, I kid you not, is parallel universes. It turns out, you can tweak the game's saving mechanism to have distinct game sessions that impact one another. So the creator creates a “preparation” save where he advances standardly, and the real file, where he's limited. The setup save has him going through the intro and initial starting area, and this Link gains maximum endurance and health. From here, he triggers a cutscene and halts partway through to instruct the software to open an automatic save from the stick file. The system gets confused and creates a third save file that combines the states of the original two.

That creates new issues, though. The fused save file has a protagonist that did not obtain the ability to enter shrines. Fortunately, this is something that the file exploit fixes readily, but executing it means depending on an unstable version of the title that refuses to load certain locations. As with other obstacles, he has a clever workaround for it: He begins Tears of the Kingdom on its pre-release version 1.0, and then patches the game partway through to ensure it begins working properly.

Bypassing Weapon Wear and Other Hurdles

Curiously, the prologue form of Link is coded so that he is unable to damage any weapons he wields, presumably to prevent a situation where the user gets trapped at the beginning of the game. But that's also how PointCrow bypasses the durability problem, as the Link he transfers between universes is the version from the start of the story. It's a smart trick, but not a method that eradicates all potential friction. The stick is nonetheless a weak weapon that renders encounters onerous. But at that point, it's all a question of grit and dedication. It also aids that there's a copying exploit that grants him an abundant number of consumables to improve his attack, or stock up on healing spirits. He also employs a bug that allows Link to phase through the environment. Some would consider these means grounds to question the legitimacy of the run, but to my view, he's a inventive gamer who is ready to do whatever it takes to engage his viewer. He further uses a penalty of kinds stating that, for each spirit he uses, he'll remove one fan from his live stream, establishing an motivation to avoid depend too much on them.

Boss Fights and the Last Showdown

PointCrow succeeds to defeat many of Tears of the Kingdom's bosses, but the fights appear painful. The YouTube version of his quest spares the viewer sit through the whole fights, which is a blessing when some of them take several hours. One enemy encounter, a powerful foe, requires an incredible twenty-three hours. The Ganondorf showdown, which depletes the hero's health as it unfolds, is a memorable nail-biter. The unbreakable branch is still only a stick. He can't always clone objects midway the fight.

So, is it possible? Technically, he manages to defeat the beast form of the antagonist. But the game compels the user to wield the Master Sword as the last attack, so strictly speaking, it's not quite completely a branch-exclusive playthrough. But what fun is that?

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