Streaming Star Dedicates Thirty-Seven Straight Trying to Conquer <em>The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a One Stick

One could think that after two years since Tears of the Kingdom debuted, enthusiasts would have run out of creative challenge runs that apply unique rules on a playthrough. However, while numerous players have tried to complete the game with only a wooden stick, content creator PointCrow stands out as the player who aimed to clear the game with a single stick—meaning, the exact same stick from start to finish.

The streamer is renowned for these kinds of challenge runs, such as the time he went through the game solely with bombs or the attempt where he tried to defeat the story with zero energy. A single stick playthrough, however, sounds impossible at first glance. There's the game's introduction, which forces the hero to wield the legendary blade. Additionally, there's the entire durability mechanic, which is especially important when working with the weakest weapon in the whole world. But if the stick breaks, that's the end. It's over.

The Method Behind the Madness

How did he do it? The straightforward answer is glitches. The complete answer, believe it or not, is parallel universes. Apparently, you can manipulate the game's save file system to have separate playthroughs that impact one another. So the creator does a “preparation” file where he advances normally, and the actual file, where he's restricted. The setup save has him completing the intro and first tutorial island, and this character acquires full stamina and hearts. From here, he starts a cutscene and halts partway through to tell the software to load an auto-save from the branch-only file. The game gets confused and creates a new save file that combines the states of the first two files.

This creates new issues, though. The merged save file has a Link that never obtain the capability to enter sacred places. Fortunately, this is an issue that the file exploit fixes easily, but pulling it off means depending on an buggy version of the game that refuses to open certain areas. Like other obstacles, he has a technical solution for it: He starts the game on its pre-release 1.0 build, and then patches the software partway through to make sure it starts working properly.

Overcoming Durability and Other Hurdles

Interestingly, the introductory version of Link is programmed so that he cannot break any tools he uses, presumably to prevent a scenario where the player gets trapped at the beginning of the adventure. But that's additionally how the streamer bypasses the wear problem, as the Link he pulls between universes is the version from the start of the game. It's a clever trick, but not a method that eliminates all potential difficulty. The branch is still a weak item that renders encounters onerous. But at that stage, it's all a question of grit and dedication. It also helps that there's a copying exploit that grants him an plentiful number of items to improve his strength, or stock up on revival fairies. He additionally employs a glitch that enables him to clip through the environment. Some would consider these means grounds to question the legitimacy of the run, but to my view, he's a inventive gamer who is ready to do anything necessary to entertain his audience. He also uses a safeguard of kinds stipulating that, for each spirit he uses, he'll ban one fan from his live stream, establishing an motivation to not overly rely on them.

Boss Fights and the Final Showdown

The streamer manages to get through several of Tears of the Kingdom's bosses, but the battles appear grueling. The video version of his quest doesn't make the audience endure the whole fights, which is a good thing when some of them take several hours. A particular enemy encounter, a powerful foe, requires an astonishing twenty-three straight. The Ganondorf battle, which depletes Link's health as it unfolds, is a notable nail-biter. The unbreakable branch is still just a piece of wood. He is unable to necessarily duplicate objects midway the battle.

Did he succeed? In a matter of speaking, he manages to defeat the beast form of Ganon. But the software compels the user to wield the legendary weapon as the last strike, so technically, it's not quite fully a stick-only run. But where's the challenge in that?

In the end, PointCrow removed over 1,000 people in his Twitch chat. Rest in peace.