Twitch Star Dedicates 37 Straight Trying to Beat <em>The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a Single Stick

One could think that after two years since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom arrived, enthusiasts would have exhausted creative self-imposed challenges that apply unique restrictions on a playthrough. Yet, although many players have attempted to finish the game using only a stick, content creator the streamer stands out as the player who aimed to clear the game with a one stick—specifically, the very same stick from start to finish.

The streamer is renowned for these kinds of challenge runs, like the time he went through the title using only explosives or the effort where he aimed to defeat the story with zero stamina. A one-branch run, however, sounds unfeasible at face value. There's the game's introduction, which requires Link to wield the legendary blade. Then, there's the entire durability system, which is especially relevant when dealing with the weakest weapon in the whole world. But if the stick breaks, that's the end. It's over.

So, How?

So, how? The simple answer is glitches. The complete answer, believe it or not, is alternate dimensions. Apparently, you can manipulate the game's saving mechanism to have distinct playthroughs that affect one another. So PointCrow creates a “preparation” file where he advances normally, and the actual save, where he's limited. The setup save has him going through the intro and first starting area, and this Link gains maximum endurance and hearts. From here, he starts a cinematic and pauses partway through to tell the software to open an auto-save from the stick file. The system gets mixed up and generates a new save file that merges the states of the original two.

This creates fresh issues, however. The fused save file has a Link that did not acquired the ability to enter shrines. Luckily, this is something that the save glitch fixes easily, but executing it means relying on an buggy build of the game that fails to load certain locations. As with other obstacles, he has a technical solution for it: He begins Tears of the Kingdom on its pre-release version 1.0, and then updates the software partway through to ensure it begins working properly.

Bypassing Weapon Wear and Additional Hurdles

Curiously, the prologue form of Link is coded so that he cannot break any weapons he uses, presumably to avoid a scenario where the player gets trapped at the beginning of the game. But that's additionally how PointCrow bypasses the durability problem, as the Link he pulls across universes is the one from the beginning of the game. It's a clever trick, but not one that eradicates all possible difficulty. The branch is nonetheless a ineffective weapon that makes battles tedious. But at that stage, it's entirely a matter of determination and perseverance. It further helps that there's a copying exploit that gives him an abundant supply of consumables to improve his attack, or accumulate on healing spirits. He also employs a glitch that allows him to clip through the environment. Some would consider these means grounds to discredit the validity of the run, but in my mind, he's a resourceful gamer who is willing to do whatever it takes to engage his viewer. He further implements a safeguard of sorts stipulating that, for each fairy he employs, he'll ban one viewer from his Twitch chat, creating an incentive to avoid depend too much on them.

Boss Fights and the Last Showdown

The streamer manages to defeat several of Tears of the Kingdom's main enemies, but the fights appear grueling. The video edit of his journey doesn't make the viewer endure the entire conflicts, which is a good thing when some of them take several hours. One boss fight, a powerful foe, requires an astonishing twenty-three straight. The Ganondorf showdown, which erases the hero's health as it unfolds, is a notable tense moment. The unbreakable stick is still only a stick. He is unable to necessarily duplicate objects during the battle.

Did he succeed? In a matter of speaking, he does defeat the dragon version of the antagonist. But the software compels the user to wield the legendary weapon as the last attack, so strictly speaking, it's not quite fully a stick-only playthrough. But where's the challenge in that?

In the end, PointCrow removed more than a thousand people in his Twitch chat. Rest in peace.