Streaming Star Dedicates Thirty-Seven Straight Trying to Conquer <em>The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom</em> With Only a One Stick

You might assume that after two years since Tears of the Kingdom arrived, fans would have exhausted creative challenge runs that apply unique rules on a playthrough. However, while many gamers have tried to complete the game using only a stick, streamer PointCrow holds the record as the individual who endeavored to clear the game with a single branch—specifically, the very same stick from start to finish.

PointCrow is famous for such difficult playthroughs, such as the instance he went through the game solely with bombs or the effort where he aimed to beat the game with no stamina. A one-branch playthrough, however, seems impossible at face value. There's the game's introduction, which requires Link to use the legendary blade. Additionally, there's the entire weapon wear mechanic, which is particularly relevant when working with the weakest weapon in the whole world. Yet if the branch shatters, that's it. It's over.

The Method Behind the Madness

So, how? The straightforward answer is exploits. The complete answer, I kid you not, is parallel universes. Apparently, you can tweak Tears of the Kingdom's saving mechanism to have separate game sessions that affect one another. So PointCrow creates a “setup” file where he advances standardly, and the real save, where he's restricted. The setup file has him completing the prologue and first starting area, and this character acquires maximum endurance and health. From this point, he starts a cutscene and halts partway through to tell the software to open an auto-save from the branch-only file. The game gets confused and generates a new save file that combines the conditions of the first two files.

That causes new issues, though. The fused save file has a protagonist that never acquired the ability to access shrines. Fortunately, this is an issue that the file exploit addresses easily, but pulling it off means relying on an unstable version of the title that fails to load some locations. As with other obstacles, he has a clever workaround for it: He begins the game on its early 1.0 build, and then patches the game midway through to ensure it begins functioning correctly.

Overcoming Weapon Wear and Additional Hurdles

Interestingly, the introductory form of the hero is programmed so that he is unable to damage any weapons he uses, presumably to avoid a scenario where the user gets stuck at the beginning of the game. But that's also how PointCrow bypasses the durability problem, as the Link he pulls between dimensions is the version from the start of the game. It's a smart technique, but not one that eliminates all potential difficulty. The branch is nonetheless a weak item that makes encounters onerous. But at that point, it's all a question of determination and dedication. It also helps that there's a duplication glitch that gives him an abundant supply of consumables to improve his attack, or stock up on revival fairies. He additionally makes use of a bug that enables him to clip through the world. Some would find these methods grounds to question the validity of the run, but to my view, he's a resourceful player who is willing to do whatever it takes to engage his viewer. He also implements a safeguard of sorts stipulating that, for each spirit he uses, he'll ban one viewer from his live stream, establishing an motivation to avoid depend too much on them.

Major Battles and the Final Showdown

PointCrow succeeds to defeat several of the game's main enemies, but the fights appear painful. The video version of his journey spares the viewer endure the entire conflicts, which is a blessing when some of them take multiple hours. A particular enemy encounter, a powerful foe, requires an astonishing 23 hours. The final villain showdown, which depletes Link's hearts as it unfolds, is a memorable tense moment. The indestructible stick is after all just a piece of wood. He is unable to always duplicate items midway the battle.

Did he succeed? In a matter of speaking, he does overcome the beast form of Ganon. But the game forces the player to wield the legendary weapon as the final attack, so strictly speaking, it's not completely a branch-exclusive run. But where's the challenge in that?

In the end, the streamer banned more than a thousand users in his Twitch chat. RIP.