Streaming Personality Spends 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 Tears of the Kingdom debuted, enthusiasts would have exhausted novel challenge runs that apply unique restrictions on a gameplay session. Yet, although many players have tried to finish the game with just a stick, content creator the streamer holds the record as the individual who aimed to clear the game with a single stick—meaning, the exact same stick throughout.

The streamer is famous for such challenge runs, like the instance he played the game using only bombs or the effort where he tried to defeat the story with no energy. A one-branch run, however, sounds impossible at first glance. There's the game's introduction, which requires Link to wield the Master Sword. Then, there's the entire durability mechanic, which is especially relevant when dealing with the most fragile tool in the whole world. Yet if the branch breaks, that's the end. It's over.

The Method Behind the Madness

How did he do it? The straightforward explanation is exploits. The full story, believe it or not, is parallel universes. It turns out, you can manipulate the game's save file system to have distinct game sessions that affect one another. So PointCrow does a “setup” file where he progresses standardly, and the real file, where he's restricted. The preparatory file has him completing the prologue and initial tutorial island, and this Link gains full endurance and hearts. From this point, he triggers a cinematic and pauses midway through to instruct the game to open an automatic save from the branch-only file. The game gets confused and creates a new game file that combines the conditions of the first two files.

This creates new problems, though. The merged file has a protagonist that never acquired the capability to access sacred places. Luckily, this is something that the save glitch fixes readily, but executing it means relying on an buggy version of the game that refuses to open certain locations. As with everything else, he has a technical solution for it: He starts the game on its early version 1.0, and then updates the game midway through to make sure it starts functioning correctly.

Bypassing Durability and Additional Challenges

Interestingly, the introductory form of the hero is coded so that he is unable to break any tools he wields, likely to prevent a situation where the player gets trapped at the start of the adventure. But that's also how PointCrow bypasses the durability issue, as the Link he pulls across universes is the version from the beginning of the story. It's a clever technique, but not one that eradicates all possible friction. The branch is nonetheless a ineffective weapon that makes battles onerous. But at that point, it's entirely a matter of determination and perseverance. It also helps 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 enables Link to clip through the environment. Some would find these methods grounds to discredit the legitimacy of the attempt, but in my mind, he's a inventive player who is willing to do whatever it takes to engage his viewer. He also uses a safeguard of sorts stipulating that, for every spirit he employs, he'll remove one fan from his live stream, creating an incentive to avoid depend too much on them.

Boss Fights and the Final Showdown

PointCrow manages to get through many of the game's main enemies, but the fights look painful. The YouTube edit of his journey spares the viewer endure the whole conflicts, which is a blessing when a few of them last several long hours. A particular boss fight, a powerful foe, requires an incredible twenty-three straight. The Ganondorf battle, which erases Link's health as it unfolds, is a notable nail-biter. The indestructible branch is still just a piece of wood. He is unable to always clone objects during the fight.

So, is it possible? Technically, he manages to defeat the dragon version of Ganon. But the game forces the player to use the legendary weapon as the final strike, so strictly speaking, it's not completely a stick-only playthrough. But where's the challenge in that?

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