Streaming Star Spends Thirty-Seven Straight Attempting to Beat <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 novel self-imposed challenges that impose unique restrictions on a playthrough. However, although numerous players have attempted to complete the game using just a stick, streamer the streamer holds the record as the player who endeavored to beat the adventure with a one stick—meaning, the exact same one throughout.

The streamer is renowned for these kinds of challenge runs, like the instance he went through the game using only explosives or the attempt where he aimed to defeat the story with no stamina. A one-branch playthrough, though, sounds unfeasible at first glance. There's the opening sequence, which forces Link to use the legendary blade. Then, there's the whole durability 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. It's over.

The Method Behind the Madness

How did he do it? The straightforward answer is glitches. The complete story, I kid you not, is alternate dimensions. Apparently, you can tweak Tears of the Kingdom's saving mechanism to have distinct game sessions that impact one another. So the creator does a “preparation” save where he advances normally, and the actual save, where he's limited. The setup file has him going through the prologue and initial tutorial island, and this character acquires full stamina and hearts. From this point, he triggers a cinematic and pauses midway through to tell the game to open an auto-save from the stick file. The system gets confused and creates a new game file that combines the states of the original two.

That creates new issues, though. The merged file has a Link that did not acquired the ability to access shrines. Fortunately, this is an issue that the file exploit fixes easily, but executing it means depending on an unstable build of the title that fails to load some areas. As with everything else, he has a clever solution for it: He begins the game on its pre-release version 1.0, and then updates the software partway through to make sure it starts working properly.

Overcoming Durability and Additional Challenges

Curiously, the introductory version of Link is coded so that he cannot break any tools he wields, likely to avoid a scenario where the user gets stuck at the beginning of the adventure. But that's also how the streamer bypasses the durability problem, as the Link he pulls between dimensions is the one from the beginning of the game. It's a smart technique, but not a method that eliminates all potential friction. The branch is nonetheless a weak item that makes encounters onerous. But at that point, it's entirely a question of grit and perseverance. It also aids that there's a copying exploit that grants him an abundant number of items to improve his strength, or accumulate on healing spirits. He additionally employs a glitch that allows Link to phase through the environment. A few would find these means grounds to discredit the validity of the run, but in my mind, he's a resourceful player who is ready to do anything necessary to entertain his viewer. He also implements a safeguard of kinds stating that, for every spirit he uses, he'll ban one fan from his Twitch chat, establishing an incentive to avoid depend too much on them.

Major Battles and the Last Encounter

PointCrow succeeds to defeat several of the game's main enemies, but the fights look grueling. The YouTube version of his journey doesn't make the viewer endure the whole fights, which is a blessing when a few of them last several hours. A particular boss fight, a powerful foe, requires an astonishing 23 hours. The final villain battle, which depletes the hero's health as it progresses, is a memorable tense moment. The unbreakable stick is after all only a piece of wood. He is unable to always duplicate objects during the fight.

So, is it possible? In a matter of speaking, he does defeat the beast form of Ganon. But the software compels the player to wield the Master Sword as the final strike, so strictly speaking, it's not quite fully a branch-exclusive playthrough. But what fun is that?

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