Twitch Star Dedicates Thirty-Seven Straight Attempting 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 Tears of the Kingdom debuted, fans would have exhausted novel self-imposed challenges that impose special rules on a playthrough. However, although many players have attempted to complete the game with only a stick, streamer PointCrow stands out as the player who aimed to clear the adventure with a single branch—specifically, the exact same one from start to finish.

PointCrow is famous for such difficult playthroughs, such as the time he went through the title using only bombs or the attempt where he aimed to beat the game with no stamina. A single stick run, though, sounds impossible at first glance. There's the game's introduction, which requires Link to wield the legendary blade. Additionally, there's the whole weapon wear system, which is particularly important when dealing with the weakest tool in the entire world. But if the branch shatters, that's the end. Game over.

So, How?

How did he do it? The straightforward explanation is exploits. The full answer, I kid you not, is parallel universes. Apparently, you can manipulate Tears of the Kingdom's saving mechanism to have distinct playthroughs that impact one another. So PointCrow does a “preparation” save where he progresses standardly, and the real save, where he's restricted. The setup file has him going through the prologue and initial tutorial island, and this Link gains full endurance and health. From this point, he starts a cinematic and halts midway through to tell the game to load an automatic save from the stick file. The system gets mixed up and generates a third game file that merges the states of the first two files.

That creates fresh issues, though. The fused save file has a Link that never obtain the ability to enter shrines. Luckily, this is an issue that the file exploit addresses easily, but executing it means relying on an unstable build of the title that refuses to open some areas. As with everything else, he has a technical solution for it: He begins the game on its pre-release 1.0 build, and then updates the software partway through to make sure it begins working properly.

Bypassing Durability and Additional Challenges

Interestingly, the introductory version of Link is programmed so that he is unable to break any weapons he wields, presumably to prevent a situation where the player gets stuck at the start of the game. But that's also how PointCrow bypasses the wear issue, as the Link he pulls between universes is the one from the beginning of the game. It's a smart technique, but not a method that eliminates all potential difficulty. The branch is nonetheless a ineffective weapon that makes battles tedious. But at that stage, it's all a question of determination and perseverance. It also helps that there's a duplication glitch that grants him an abundant number of consumables to improve his strength, or stock up on healing spirits. He also makes use of a bug that allows Link to phase through the environment. Some would find these methods grounds to question the legitimacy of the attempt, but in my mind, he's a resourceful player who is ready to do anything necessary to entertain his viewer. He further uses a penalty of kinds stipulating that, for each spirit he uses, he'll ban one viewer from his live stream, establishing an motivation to not depend too much on them.

Boss Fights and the Last Showdown

PointCrow succeeds to defeat several of Tears of the Kingdom's bosses, but the fights look grueling. The YouTube edit of his journey spares the viewer endure the whole conflicts, which is a blessing when a few of them take several 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 unbreakable stick is still only a piece of wood. He can't necessarily duplicate items during the fight.

So, is it possible? In a matter of speaking, he manages to defeat the beast form of Ganon. But the game forces the player to use the legendary weapon as the last attack, so technically, it's not fully a branch-exclusive run. But what fun is that?

In the end, PointCrow banned over 1,000 users in his Twitch chat. RIP.