Twitch Star Spends Thirty-Seven Hours 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 The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom debuted, enthusiasts would have run out of novel self-imposed challenges that apply special rules on a playthrough. However, while numerous gamers have attempted to complete the game using only a stick, content creator PointCrow holds the record as the player who endeavored to clear the adventure with a one stick—specifically, the exact same stick from start to finish.

PointCrow is renowned for these kinds of difficult playthroughs, such as the time he played the game using only explosives or the attempt where he aimed to defeat the game with no stamina. A one-branch run, however, seems unfeasible at first glance. There's the game's introduction, which forces the hero to use the legendary blade. Additionally, there's the entire weapon wear system, which is especially relevant when dealing with the weakest tool in the entire world. But if the stick breaks, that's it. It's over.

The Method Behind the Madness

How did he do it? The straightforward explanation is glitches. The complete story, I kid you not, is parallel universes. It turns out, you can manipulate Tears of the Kingdom's save file system to have separate game sessions that impact one another. So PointCrow does a “setup” file where he advances standardly, and the actual file, where he's restricted. The preparatory save has him completing the prologue and first starting area, and this character acquires maximum endurance and hearts. From this point, he starts a cutscene and pauses partway through to instruct the software to load an auto-save from the stick file. The system gets confused and generates a new save file that combines the conditions of the first two files.

That creates fresh problems, though. The merged file has a Link that never obtain the capability to enter sacred places. Fortunately, this is something that the file exploit addresses readily, but executing it means relying on an unstable version of the game that refuses to open some areas. Like everything else, he has a technical workaround for it: He begins the game on its early 1.0 build, and then updates the game partway through to ensure it begins working properly.

Bypassing Weapon Wear and Other Challenges

Interestingly, the introductory form of the hero is programmed so that he is unable to break any weapons he uses, presumably to prevent a situation where the user gets trapped at the start of the game. But that's also how the streamer bypasses the durability problem, as the character he pulls across universes is the version from the start of the story. It's a smart technique, but not a method that eliminates all possible difficulty. The branch is still a ineffective item that makes battles tedious. But at that point, it's entirely a question of determination 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 enables Link to phase through the world. A few would consider these methods reason to question the legitimacy of the attempt, but in my mind, he's a inventive player who is ready to do whatever it takes to entertain his viewer. He also implements a safeguard of kinds stating that, for each spirit he employs, he'll remove a viewer from his live stream, establishing an motivation to avoid depend too much on them.

Boss Fights and the Last Encounter

The streamer succeeds to defeat several of Tears of the Kingdom's bosses, but the fights appear painful. The YouTube edit of his quest doesn't make the viewer sit through the entire fights, which is a good thing when a few of them last multiple hours. One enemy encounter, a powerful foe, takes an astonishing 23 straight. The Ganondorf showdown, which erases Link's hearts as it unfolds, is a notable tense moment. The indestructible stick is still just a piece of wood. He can't always clone objects midway the fight.

Did he succeed? In a matter of speaking, PointCrow manages to overcome the beast form of Ganon. But the game forces the user to use the Master Sword as the last attack, so technically, it's not quite fully a stick-only run. But what fun is that?

When everything is said and done, PointCrow banned more than 1,000 people in his live stream. Rest in peace.