Twitch Personality Spends Thirty-Seven Hours Trying to Conquer <em>The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a One Stick

You might assume that after two years since Tears of the Kingdom arrived, enthusiasts would have run out of creative challenge runs that apply special restrictions on a playthrough. Yet, while numerous players have attempted to finish Tears of the Kingdom with only a stick, content creator the streamer stands out as the player who endeavored to clear the game with a one branch—specifically, the exact same stick from start to finish.

The streamer is famous for these kinds of difficult playthroughs, such as the time he went through the title solely with bombs or the effort where he tried to defeat the story with no energy. A single stick playthrough, however, seems impossible at face value. There's the game's introduction, which forces the hero to use the legendary blade. Then, there's the entire durability system, which is especially important when dealing with the weakest tool in the whole world. But if the branch breaks, that's the end. Game over.

The Method Behind the Madness

So, how? The simple answer is exploits. The full answer, I kid you not, is parallel universes. It turns out, you can manipulate Tears of the Kingdom's save file system to have separate game sessions that impact one another. So PointCrow does a “preparation” save where he progresses normally, and the actual save, where he's limited. The preparatory file has him completing the prologue and initial starting area, and this character gains full endurance and health. From this point, he starts a cutscene and pauses partway through to tell the software to load an automatic save from the branch-only file. The system gets confused and creates a new game file that merges the states of the original two.

That causes fresh issues, though. The fused file has a Link that did not obtain the ability to access sacred places. Luckily, this is an issue that the save glitch fixes easily, but pulling it off means relying on an buggy version of the game that fails to open certain locations. Like other obstacles, he has a clever workaround for it: He starts the game on its early 1.0 build, and then updates the game midway through to make sure it begins working properly.

Bypassing Weapon Wear and Other Challenges

Interestingly, the introductory form of the hero is programmed so that he cannot damage any weapons he wields, likely to prevent a situation where the player gets trapped at the start of the adventure. But that's additionally how PointCrow bypasses the durability issue, as the Link he transfers across dimensions is the version from the start of the game. It's a clever technique, but not a method that eliminates all possible difficulty. The stick is nonetheless a weak weapon that renders encounters onerous. But at that point, it's entirely a matter of determination and dedication. It also aids that there's a duplication glitch that gives him an abundant number of consumables to boost his attack, or accumulate on healing spirits. He additionally employs a bug that allows him to clip through the environment. A few would consider these means reason to question the legitimacy of the run, but in my mind, he's a inventive player who is ready to do anything necessary to entertain his audience. He further uses a safeguard of kinds stipulating that, for every fairy he uses, he'll ban a viewer from his live stream, creating an incentive to not depend too much on them.

Major Battles and the Final Showdown

The streamer manages to get through many of the game's bosses, but the fights appear painful. The YouTube version of his quest spares the viewer sit through the whole fights, which is a good thing when a few of them last several hours. A particular boss fight, Queen Gibdo, requires an astonishing twenty-three straight. The final villain battle, which erases the hero's hearts as it unfolds, is a notable nail-biter. The indestructible stick is after all only a stick. He can't always duplicate items during the battle.

So, is it possible? Technically, PointCrow manages to overcome the beast form of Ganon. But the game compels 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?

In the end, PointCrow removed over a thousand people in his live stream. Rest in peace.