Streaming Star Dedicates 37 Hours Trying to Conquer <em>The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom</em> With Only a Single Stick

You might assume that two years post-launch since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom arrived, enthusiasts would have run out of creative self-imposed challenges that impose unique rules on a playthrough. However, although many players have attempted to finish Tears of the Kingdom with just a stick, streamer the streamer stands out as the individual who endeavored to beat the adventure with a one stick—meaning, the very same one throughout.

The streamer is famous for such difficult playthroughs, such as the time he went through the game solely with bombs or the attempt where he tried to defeat the game with no stamina. A one-branch playthrough, however, seems unfeasible at face value. There's the opening sequence, which forces the hero to use the Master Sword. Then, there's the whole weapon wear system, which is particularly important when working with the most fragile weapon in the entire game. Yet if the branch breaks, that's the end. Game over.

The Method Behind the Madness

How did he do it? The simple explanation is glitches. The complete story, I kid you not, is alternate dimensions. Apparently, you can manipulate Tears of the Kingdom's saving mechanism to have separate game sessions that impact one another. So the creator does a “preparation” file where he advances standardly, and the actual file, where he's limited. The setup file has him going through the prologue and first starting area, and this character acquires maximum stamina and health. From this point, he starts a cinematic and halts partway through to instruct the software to open an auto-save from the branch-only file. The game gets confused and creates a third save file that merges the conditions of the first two files.

That creates fresh problems, however. The merged file has a Link that did not acquired the ability to access shrines. Luckily, this is an issue that the save glitch addresses readily, but executing it means relying on an unstable version of the title that refuses to open some areas. Like other obstacles, he has a technical solution for it: He starts the game on its pre-release 1.0 build, and then updates the game partway through to make sure it begins working properly.

Overcoming Durability and Additional Hurdles

Curiously, the prologue form of Link is coded so that he is unable to break any tools he wields, likely to prevent a situation where the player gets trapped at the beginning of the game. But that's additionally how the streamer gets around the durability issue, as the character he transfers between dimensions is the one from the start of the story. It's a smart trick, but not one that eradicates all potential difficulty. The stick is still a weak item that makes encounters tedious. But at that stage, it's all a question of determination and perseverance. It further helps that there's a copying exploit that grants him an abundant supply of items to improve his attack, or accumulate on healing spirits. He additionally employs a bug that allows Link to clip through the environment. Some would find these methods reason to question the validity of the run, but to my view, he's a resourceful gamer who is willing to do anything necessary to engage his audience. He further uses a penalty of kinds stipulating that, for each fairy he uses, he'll remove a viewer from his Twitch chat, establishing an incentive to avoid overly rely on them.

Major Battles and the Last Showdown

PointCrow manages to get through many of Tears of the Kingdom's bosses, but the battles look grueling. The video version of his quest spares the viewer sit through the whole fights, which is a blessing when some of them take multiple long hours. One enemy encounter, a powerful foe, takes an astonishing twenty-three straight. The Ganondorf battle, which erases Link's health as it unfolds, is a memorable tense moment. The indestructible branch is still just a stick. He is unable to always clone objects midway the fight.

So, is it possible? In a matter of speaking, he does overcome the dragon version of Ganon. But the software compels the player to use the legendary weapon as the last strike, so technically, it's not quite completely a branch-exclusive run. But where's the challenge in that?

When everything is said and done, the streamer banned more than a thousand users in his live stream. Rest in peace.