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

One could think that after two years since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom debuted, enthusiasts would have run out of novel self-imposed challenges that apply unique restrictions on a playthrough. However, while many gamers have tried to complete Tears of the Kingdom with only a wooden stick, content creator PointCrow stands out as the individual who endeavored to beat the game with a one branch—specifically, the exact same one throughout.

PointCrow is renowned for such challenge runs, such as the time he went through the title solely with bombs or the attempt where he aimed to defeat the game with zero stamina. A one-branch run, though, seems impossible at face value. There's the opening sequence, which forces the hero to use the Master Sword. Additionally, there's the entire weapon wear system, which is especially relevant when working with the weakest tool in the whole world. Yet if the branch shatters, that's the end. It's over.

So, How?

How did he do it? The straightforward explanation is glitches. The full answer, I kid you not, is parallel universes. Apparently, you can tweak Tears of the Kingdom's save file system to have distinct game sessions that affect one another. So PointCrow creates a “setup” save where he progresses normally, and the actual file, where he's restricted. The preparatory save has him completing the intro and first tutorial island, and this character acquires maximum stamina and health. From here, he starts a cinematic and halts partway through to tell the software to load an automatic save from the stick file. The game gets confused and generates a third game file that merges the states of the original two.

This creates new problems, however. The merged save file has a protagonist that never obtain the capability to enter shrines. Fortunately, this is something that the save glitch fixes easily, but executing it means depending on an buggy build of the game that fails to open some locations. Like other obstacles, he has a technical workaround for it: He begins Tears of the Kingdom on its pre-release 1.0 build, and then updates the game midway through to ensure it starts functioning correctly.

Bypassing Weapon Wear and Additional Hurdles

Curiously, the prologue version of Link is programmed so that he is unable to damage any tools he uses, likely to avoid a situation where the user gets stuck at the start of the game. But that's also how the streamer gets around the wear issue, as the character he transfers across universes is the one from the start of the game. It's a clever trick, but not a method that eradicates all potential difficulty. The stick is still a weak weapon that makes encounters onerous. But at that stage, it's all a matter of grit and dedication. It also helps that there's a duplication glitch that gives him an plentiful number of items to boost his attack, or accumulate on healing spirits. He also makes use of a glitch that allows him to clip through the environment. A few would find these methods reason to question the legitimacy of the run, but in my mind, he's a resourceful gamer who is ready to do anything necessary to engage his viewer. He also implements a safeguard of kinds stating that, for every spirit he employs, he'll ban one fan from his live stream, establishing an incentive to avoid overly rely on them.

Major Battles and the Last Showdown

PointCrow manages to get through several of the game's main enemies, but the fights appear painful. The video edit of his quest spares the audience endure the entire fights, which is a blessing when a few of them last several long hours. A particular boss fight, a powerful foe, takes an incredible 23 straight. The final villain showdown, which erases the hero's hearts as it progresses, is a notable nail-biter. The indestructible branch is still only a stick. He can't always clone objects midway the fight.

Did he succeed? Technically, PointCrow does defeat the beast form of the antagonist. But the game compels the player to use the Master Sword as the last attack, so strictly speaking, it's not completely a stick-only playthrough. But what fun is that?

When everything is said and done, the streamer banned over a thousand people in his live stream. Rest in peace.