Twitch Star Spends 37 Straight Attempting to Beat <em>The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a One Stick

You might assume that two years post-launch since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom debuted, enthusiasts would have run out of novel challenge runs that apply unique restrictions on a playthrough. However, although many gamers have attempted to complete Tears of the Kingdom using just a stick, content creator the streamer stands out as the player who aimed to clear the game with a single stick—specifically, the exact same one throughout.

The streamer is famous for these kinds of difficult playthroughs, like the time he played the game solely with bombs or the effort where he aimed to defeat the game with no stamina. A one-branch run, though, seems impossible at face value. There's the opening sequence, which requires Link to use the legendary blade. Additionally, there's the whole weapon wear mechanic, which is especially important when working with the most fragile tool in the entire game. Yet if the branch shatters, that's it. It's over.

The Method Behind the Madness

So, how? The straightforward answer is exploits. The full answer, believe it or not, is parallel universes. 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 progresses normally, and the real file, where he's restricted. The setup file has him completing the intro and initial tutorial island, and this Link gains maximum endurance and hearts. From here, he starts a cutscene and pauses midway through to tell the software to open an auto-save from the stick file. The game gets mixed up and creates a new save file that merges the states of the original two.

This causes fresh issues, though. The merged file has a Link that did not acquired the ability to enter sacred places. Luckily, this is an issue that the file exploit addresses readily, but executing it means depending on an unstable version of the game that refuses to load some locations. Like everything else, he has a clever workaround for it: He begins the game on its early 1.0 build, and then patches the software partway through to make sure it begins working properly.

Bypassing Weapon Wear and Additional Hurdles

Curiously, the introductory form of the hero is programmed so that he cannot break any weapons he uses, likely to prevent a scenario where the user gets stuck at the beginning of the game. But that's also how PointCrow bypasses the wear problem, as the character he pulls between universes is the one from the start of the story. It's a smart trick, but not one that eliminates all potential difficulty. The branch is still a weak weapon that renders battles onerous. But at that point, it's entirely a question of determination and dedication. It also aids that there's a copying exploit that gives him an plentiful number of items to improve his strength, or stock up on healing spirits. He also employs a glitch that allows him to clip through the world. Some would consider these methods reason to question the validity of the run, but to my view, he's a inventive gamer who is ready to do whatever it takes to engage his viewer. He further uses a penalty of sorts stating that, for every fairy he employs, he'll ban one viewer from his live stream, creating an motivation to not overly rely on them.

Boss Fights and the Last Encounter

PointCrow manages to defeat several of Tears of the Kingdom's main enemies, but the battles look painful. The video version of his quest doesn't make the viewer sit through the whole conflicts, which is a good thing when a few of them last multiple long hours. One boss fight, Queen Gibdo, requires an astonishing twenty-three hours. The final villain battle, which depletes the hero's hearts as it unfolds, is a memorable nail-biter. The indestructible stick is after all just a piece of wood. He can't always clone items during the battle.

Did he succeed? In a matter of speaking, he manages to overcome the dragon version of the antagonist. But the software compels the user to wield the Master Sword as the final attack, so strictly speaking, it's not fully a stick-only playthrough. But what fun is that?

When everything is said and done, the streamer removed over 1,000 users in his Twitch chat. RIP.