Streaming Star Dedicates 37 Straight Attempting to Beat <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 run out of creative challenge runs that apply special restrictions on a gameplay session. However, while many gamers have tried to complete the game using only a wooden stick, streamer the streamer holds the record as the player who endeavored to beat the game with a one stick—specifically, the exact same stick throughout.

The streamer is famous for such challenge runs, such as the time he went through the game using only explosives or the effort where he tried to defeat the game with no stamina. A one-branch run, however, seems unfeasible at first glance. There's the game's introduction, which forces the hero to use the legendary blade. Then, there's the whole durability system, which is particularly relevant when dealing with the weakest weapon in the whole world. But if the branch shatters, that's it. Game over.

So, How?

How did he do it? The simple explanation is glitches. The complete story, believe it or not, is parallel universes. Apparently, you can tweak the game's saving mechanism to have distinct playthroughs that impact one another. So the creator does a “setup” save where he advances normally, and the actual file, where he's limited. The setup file has him completing the prologue and initial starting area, and this Link gains maximum endurance and health. From this point, he starts a cinematic and halts midway through to instruct the software to open an automatic save from the stick file. The game gets confused and creates a new save file that merges the conditions of the first two files.

That causes fresh problems, though. The fused file has a protagonist that never acquired the capability to enter sacred places. Luckily, this is something that the file exploit addresses readily, but executing it means relying on an buggy version of the title that refuses to load certain areas. Like everything else, he has a technical workaround for it: He starts the game on its pre-release version 1.0, and then updates the software midway through to ensure it starts working properly.

Overcoming Weapon Wear and Additional Challenges

Curiously, the prologue form of Link is coded so that he cannot break any weapons he wields, presumably to prevent a situation where the user gets trapped at the start of the adventure. But that's also how PointCrow gets around the durability problem, as the Link he transfers between universes is the one from the start of the game. It's a clever technique, but not a method that eradicates all possible difficulty. The stick is nonetheless a ineffective item that makes encounters tedious. But at that stage, it's all a question of determination and dedication. It also aids that there's a duplication glitch that grants him an plentiful number of consumables to boost his attack, or accumulate on healing spirits. He also employs a glitch that allows Link to phase through the environment. A few would find these means reason to question the validity of the attempt, but in my mind, he's a resourceful gamer who is willing to do whatever it takes to engage his audience. He further uses a penalty of sorts stipulating that, for every spirit he employs, he'll ban a viewer from his live stream, creating an motivation to not depend too much on them.

Major Battles and the Final Showdown

PointCrow succeeds to get through many of the game's bosses, but the battles look painful. The YouTube edit of his quest doesn't make the viewer sit through the entire fights, which is a blessing when a few of them take several hours. One boss fight, a powerful foe, requires an astonishing twenty-three straight. The Ganondorf battle, which depletes the hero's hearts as it progresses, is a memorable tense moment. The unbreakable stick is after all only a stick. He is unable to always clone items midway the fight.

Did he succeed? In a matter of speaking, PointCrow does defeat the beast form of the antagonist. But the software compels the player to use the Master Sword as the last attack, so technically, it's not quite fully a branch-exclusive playthrough. But where's the challenge in that?

When everything is said and done, the streamer removed more than a thousand people in his live stream. Rest in peace.