Streaming Personality Spends 37 Straight Attempting to Beat <em>The Legend of Zelda: 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 arrived, enthusiasts would have run out of creative self-imposed challenges that apply special rules on a gameplay session. However, although many players have tried to finish Tears of the Kingdom with just a wooden stick, streamer the streamer holds the record as the individual who endeavored to beat the game with a one branch—meaning, the exact same one from start to finish.

PointCrow is renowned for these kinds of challenge runs, such as the instance he played the title using only explosives or the attempt where he aimed to defeat the game with no stamina. A single stick playthrough, however, seems impossible at first glance. There's the game's introduction, which requires Link to wield the Master Sword. Additionally, there's the entire weapon wear mechanic, which is particularly relevant when working with the weakest tool in the entire game. Yet if the stick breaks, that's the end. Game over.

The Method Behind the Madness

How did he do it? The straightforward explanation is exploits. The complete story, believe it or not, is parallel universes. Apparently, you can tweak Tears of the Kingdom's save file system to have distinct game sessions that impact one another. So PointCrow does a “preparation” file where he progresses normally, and the real file, where he's restricted. The setup save has him completing the prologue and initial tutorial island, and this character gains full endurance and hearts. From here, he triggers a cutscene and halts midway through to tell the software to open an automatic save from the stick file. The game gets mixed up and generates a new game file that combines the conditions of the first two files.

That causes new problems, though. The merged file has a Link that never obtain the ability to access shrines. Fortunately, this is an issue that the save glitch addresses readily, but executing it means depending on an unstable version of the game that fails to open certain areas. As with other obstacles, he has a clever solution for it: He begins the game on its pre-release version 1.0, and then patches the game partway through to make sure it starts working properly.

Overcoming Durability and Other Challenges

Interestingly, the prologue form of Link is programmed so that he is unable to damage any weapons he uses, presumably to prevent a scenario where the user gets stuck at the beginning of the game. But that's also how the streamer bypasses the wear issue, as the character he pulls between universes is the version from the beginning of the story. It's a clever trick, but not one that eliminates all possible difficulty. The stick is nonetheless a ineffective item that makes battles onerous. But at that point, it's entirely a matter of grit and perseverance. It further helps that there's a duplication glitch that gives him an abundant number of items to improve his attack, or accumulate on revival fairies. He additionally makes use of a glitch that allows Link to phase through the environment. A few would find these means reason to question the legitimacy of the run, but to my view, he's a resourceful gamer who is ready to do whatever it takes to engage his audience. He also implements a penalty of kinds stating that, for every spirit he employs, he'll remove a fan from his Twitch chat, creating an motivation to not depend too much on them.

Boss Fights and the Final Encounter

PointCrow manages to get through several of Tears of the Kingdom's bosses, but the battles look grueling. The YouTube edit of his journey doesn't make the audience sit through the whole fights, which is a blessing when some of them last several long hours. A particular boss fight, a powerful foe, requires an astonishing twenty-three hours. The final villain battle, which erases the hero's hearts as it progresses, is a notable tense moment. The indestructible stick is still just a stick. He can't always duplicate objects midway the fight.

So, is it possible? In a matter of speaking, he does defeat the beast form of Ganon. But the game forces the user to use the legendary weapon as the last attack, so strictly speaking, it's not quite fully a stick-only run. But where's the challenge in that?

In the end, PointCrow removed over 1,000 people in his live stream. RIP.