Twitch Star Dedicates Thirty-Seven Straight Attempting to Conquer <em>The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom</em> With Only a One Stick

One could think that two years post-launch since Tears of the Kingdom arrived, fans would have run out of creative challenge runs that apply unique restrictions on a playthrough. However, while numerous players have attempted to complete the game with just a wooden stick, streamer PointCrow stands out as the individual who endeavored to clear the game with a single stick—specifically, the very same stick from start to finish.

The streamer is famous for these kinds of challenge runs, such as the time he played the title solely with explosives or the effort where he tried to defeat the story with zero stamina. A single stick run, however, sounds impossible at first glance. There's the game's introduction, which forces Link to use the legendary blade. Additionally, there's the whole weapon wear system, which is particularly relevant when working with the most fragile weapon in the entire world. But if the branch shatters, that's it. It's over.

So, How?

How did he do it? The straightforward answer is glitches. The complete answer, I kid you not, is alternate dimensions. It turns out, you can tweak Tears of the Kingdom's save file system to have separate game sessions that impact one another. So PointCrow creates a “preparation” save where he progresses normally, and the actual save, where he's limited. The preparatory file has him going through the prologue and first tutorial island, and this character acquires maximum stamina and hearts. From this point, he starts a cutscene and pauses partway through to instruct the software to open an automatic save from the branch-only file. The system gets confused and creates a new game file that merges the states of the original two.

That causes new issues, though. The fused save file has a Link that did not acquired the capability to enter shrines. Fortunately, this is something that the file exploit addresses readily, but executing it means relying on an unstable version of the game that fails to load certain locations. As with everything else, he has a technical solution for it: He starts Tears of the Kingdom on its early 1.0 build, and then updates the game midway through to ensure it begins working properly.

Overcoming Weapon Wear and Other Hurdles

Interestingly, the introductory version of the hero is coded so that he is unable to break any tools he uses, likely to prevent a scenario where the user gets trapped at the beginning of the game. But that's additionally how the streamer gets around the wear issue, as the Link he pulls between dimensions is the version from the start of the story. It's a clever technique, but not a method that eradicates all potential friction. The branch is still a ineffective weapon that renders battles onerous. But at that stage, it's all a matter of determination and perseverance. It further aids that there's a copying exploit that grants him an abundant number of consumables to improve his strength, or accumulate on healing spirits. He additionally employs a bug that enables Link to clip through the environment. A few would find these means grounds to discredit the validity of the attempt, but in my mind, he's a inventive gamer who is willing to do whatever it takes to engage his audience. He also implements a penalty of kinds stating that, for every fairy he uses, he'll ban one fan from his Twitch chat, establishing an motivation to avoid overly rely on them.

Boss Fights and the Final Encounter

PointCrow succeeds to defeat several of the game's main enemies, but the fights look painful. The video edit of his quest doesn't make the viewer sit through the entire fights, which is a good thing when some of them take several long hours. One boss fight, a powerful foe, requires an incredible twenty-three hours. The final villain showdown, which erases Link's health as it unfolds, is a memorable tense moment. The unbreakable branch is after all just a stick. He is unable to necessarily clone items midway the fight.

Did he succeed? Technically, PointCrow manages to defeat the dragon version of Ganon. But the software compels the player to use the Master Sword as the last attack, so technically, it's not fully a stick-only run. But where's the challenge in that?

In the end, PointCrow removed more than 1,000 users in his Twitch chat. RIP.