Streaming Personality Spends 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 Tears of the Kingdom arrived, enthusiasts would have exhausted creative challenge runs that apply special rules on a playthrough. Yet, while many gamers have attempted to complete Tears of the Kingdom with just a stick, content creator the streamer holds the record as the individual who aimed to clear the game with a one branch—specifically, the very same stick from start to finish.

PointCrow is famous for these kinds of challenge runs, such as the time he played the title solely with bombs or the effort where he tried to defeat the game with zero stamina. A single stick playthrough, however, sounds impossible at face value. There's the game's introduction, which requires Link to wield the legendary blade. Additionally, there's the whole durability mechanic, which is particularly important when dealing with the most fragile tool in the entire game. But if the stick breaks, that's it. It's over.

The Method Behind the Madness

How did he do it? The simple answer is glitches. The complete story, I kid you not, is alternate dimensions. It turns out, you can manipulate the game's save file system to have distinct playthroughs that impact one another. So the creator creates a “setup” file where he advances standardly, and the real save, where he's limited. The preparatory save has him completing the intro and initial tutorial island, and this Link gains maximum stamina and hearts. From here, he triggers a cinematic and pauses partway through to tell the game to open an automatic save from the stick file. The system gets mixed up and generates a third save file that merges the conditions of the first two files.

This causes fresh issues, though. The fused save file has a Link that never acquired the capability to access sacred places. Luckily, this is something that the file exploit fixes readily, but executing it means relying on an unstable build of the title that refuses to load certain areas. Like other obstacles, he has a technical workaround for it: He begins the game on its pre-release 1.0 build, and then updates the game midway through to make sure it begins functioning correctly.

Bypassing Weapon Wear and Other Hurdles

Interestingly, the prologue version of the hero is programmed so that he cannot damage any weapons he uses, presumably to prevent a situation where the user gets stuck at the beginning of the game. But that's also how the streamer bypasses the wear issue, as the Link he transfers across universes is the version from the start of the game. It's a clever technique, but not one that eliminates all possible difficulty. The stick is nonetheless a weak item that renders battles tedious. But at that stage, it's entirely a matter of grit and dedication. It further aids that there's a duplication glitch that grants him an abundant number of consumables to improve his strength, or stock up on revival fairies. He also makes use of a glitch that allows Link to clip through the environment. Some would find these methods reason to question the legitimacy of the run, but to my view, he's a inventive player who is willing to do anything necessary to entertain his viewer. He also implements a penalty of sorts stipulating that, for every fairy he uses, he'll ban a fan from his Twitch chat, establishing an incentive to not depend too much on them.

Major Battles and the Last Encounter

The streamer succeeds to defeat several of the game's bosses, but the battles appear grueling. The YouTube version of his journey doesn't make the viewer sit through the entire conflicts, which is a blessing when some of them take multiple hours. One enemy encounter, Queen Gibdo, requires an incredible twenty-three straight. The Ganondorf showdown, which erases the hero's health as it progresses, is a notable tense moment. The unbreakable branch is still just a piece of wood. He can't necessarily clone objects midway the battle.

So, is it possible? Technically, he does overcome the dragon version of Ganon. But the software compels the player to use the Master Sword as the last strike, so technically, it's not completely a stick-only run. But where's the challenge in that?

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