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

You might assume that after two years since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom debuted, fans would have run out of creative challenge runs that impose special rules on a playthrough. Yet, while many players have tried to complete the game with just a wooden stick, content creator PointCrow stands out as the player who aimed to clear the game with a one stick—specifically, the very same one throughout.

The streamer is famous for these kinds of challenge runs, such as the time he went through the game using only explosives or the attempt where he tried to defeat the story with zero stamina. A single stick playthrough, though, sounds unfeasible at first glance. There's the game's introduction, which forces Link to wield the legendary blade. Then, there's the whole durability mechanic, which is especially important when dealing with the weakest tool in the entire world. Yet if the branch shatters, that's the end. It's over.

The Method Behind the Madness

So, how? The straightforward explanation is glitches. The complete story, believe it or not, is parallel universes. It turns out, you can tweak Tears of the Kingdom's save file system to have separate game sessions that affect one another. So PointCrow does a “preparation” file where he progresses normally, and the real save, where he's restricted. The preparatory save has him completing the intro and first tutorial island, and this character acquires maximum stamina and hearts. From here, he triggers a cutscene and pauses midway through to instruct the software to load an auto-save from the branch-only file. The system gets mixed up and generates a new game file that combines the states of the original two.

That causes fresh issues, though. The merged file has a protagonist that did not obtain the capability to access shrines. Luckily, this is an issue that the save glitch addresses readily, but executing it means depending on an unstable build of the title that refuses to load certain locations. As with other obstacles, he has a technical solution for it: He begins the game on its early version 1.0, and then updates the software partway through to make sure it starts functioning correctly.

Bypassing Durability and Other Hurdles

Interestingly, the prologue form of Link is coded so that he is unable to break any weapons he wields, presumably to prevent a situation where the player gets trapped at the beginning of the game. But that's also how PointCrow gets around the durability issue, as the Link he transfers between dimensions is the version from the start of the game. It's a smart trick, but not one that eradicates all possible friction. The branch is still a weak weapon that renders battles onerous. But at that stage, it's all a question of grit and dedication. It further aids that there's a copying exploit that gives him an abundant supply of consumables to improve his strength, or stock up on healing spirits. He also makes use of a glitch that enables him to phase through the world. Some would consider these methods grounds to question the legitimacy of the run, but in my mind, he's a inventive gamer who is ready to do anything necessary to engage his audience. 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 overly rely on them.

Boss Fights and the Last Showdown

PointCrow succeeds to get through many of the game's main enemies, but the battles look grueling. The YouTube version of his journey doesn't make the viewer sit through the whole conflicts, which is a good thing when a few of them take several long hours. A particular enemy encounter, Queen Gibdo, takes an incredible twenty-three straight. The Ganondorf showdown, which depletes the hero's health as it progresses, is a notable nail-biter. The unbreakable stick is still only a piece of wood. He is unable to always clone items midway the fight.

Did he succeed? In a matter of speaking, he does defeat the dragon version of Ganon. But the software compels the player to wield 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 banned more than 1,000 people in his Twitch chat. RIP.