Twitch Star Dedicates Thirty-Seven Straight Attempting to Beat <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a One Stick

One could think that two years post-launch since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom debuted, fans would have run out of novel self-imposed challenges that apply unique restrictions on a playthrough. Yet, while many gamers have attempted to finish the game using just a stick, streamer the streamer holds the record as the individual who endeavored to beat the adventure with a single branch—meaning, the exact same one from start to finish.

PointCrow is famous for these kinds of challenge runs, like the instance he went through the game using only explosives or the effort where he aimed to beat the game with zero stamina. A single stick playthrough, however, sounds unfeasible at face value. There's the opening sequence, which requires Link to use the Master Sword. Then, there's the whole weapon wear system, which is particularly important when dealing with the weakest tool in the entire game. But if the branch breaks, that's the end. It's over.

The Method Behind the Madness

How did he do it? The simple answer is exploits. The full story, believe it or not, is parallel universes. It turns out, you can manipulate Tears of the Kingdom's saving mechanism to have distinct playthroughs that impact one another. So PointCrow does a “setup” file where he progresses standardly, and the actual file, where he's limited. The setup save has him going through the prologue and initial starting area, and this Link gains maximum endurance and health. From here, he triggers a cinematic and pauses midway through to tell the game to open an auto-save from the stick file. The system gets confused and creates a third save file that combines the states of the first two files.

That causes new problems, though. The merged file has a Link that never obtain the capability to enter shrines. Luckily, this is something that the save glitch addresses readily, but executing it means relying on an unstable version of the game that fails to load certain locations. Like everything else, he has a clever workaround for it: He starts the game on its pre-release version 1.0, and then patches the game partway through to make sure it begins functioning correctly.

Overcoming Durability and Additional Hurdles

Interestingly, the prologue version of Link is programmed so that he is unable to break any weapons he wields, presumably to prevent a scenario where the player gets trapped at the beginning of the adventure. But that's also how PointCrow gets around the durability problem, as the character he pulls between dimensions is the version from the beginning of the story. It's a clever trick, but not one that eradicates all possible friction. The branch is still a weak weapon that renders battles tedious. But at that point, it's all a matter of grit and dedication. It further helps that there's a copying exploit that gives him an plentiful supply of consumables to boost his attack, or stock up on healing spirits. He additionally makes use of a glitch that enables Link to clip through the environment. Some would find these means grounds to question the validity of the attempt, but to my view, he's a inventive player who is ready to do whatever it takes to engage his audience. He further implements a penalty of sorts stipulating that, for every spirit he employs, he'll remove one fan from his Twitch chat, creating an motivation to not depend too much on them.

Boss Fights and the Last Encounter

The streamer succeeds to get through many of Tears of the Kingdom's main enemies, but the fights appear grueling. The video version of his journey doesn't make the viewer sit through the whole conflicts, which is a blessing when some of them last several long hours. A particular enemy encounter, Queen Gibdo, takes an astonishing 23 straight. The Ganondorf showdown, which depletes Link's health as it progresses, is a memorable tense moment. The indestructible branch is still just a stick. He is unable to always duplicate objects during the battle.

Did he succeed? Technically, he does overcome the dragon version of the antagonist. But the software compels the player to use the Master Sword as the last attack, so technically, it's not completely a branch-exclusive playthrough. But where's the challenge in that?

When everything is said and done, PointCrow removed over a thousand users in his Twitch chat. RIP.