Twitch Star Dedicates Thirty-Seven Straight Trying to Beat <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a One Stick

One could think that two years post-launch since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom debuted, enthusiasts would have run out of novel challenge runs that impose unique rules on a playthrough. Yet, although numerous players have tried to complete Tears of the Kingdom with just a stick, content creator PointCrow holds the record as the individual who endeavored to clear the adventure with a one branch—meaning, the very same one from start to finish.

The streamer is famous for these kinds of difficult playthroughs, such as the time he went through the game using only explosives or the effort where he tried to beat the game with zero energy. A one-branch run, though, sounds unfeasible at first glance. There's the opening sequence, which forces Link to use the Master Sword. Additionally, there's the whole weapon wear mechanic, which is particularly relevant when dealing with the weakest weapon in the whole game. Yet if the branch breaks, that's it. Game over.

So, How?

So, how? The simple explanation is glitches. The full story, I kid you not, is alternate dimensions. It turns out, you can tweak Tears of the Kingdom's saving mechanism to have distinct playthroughs that impact one another. So PointCrow does a “setup” file where he advances normally, and the actual save, where he's restricted. The preparatory save has him going through the prologue and first starting area, and this Link gains maximum stamina and health. From this point, he triggers a cutscene and pauses partway through to tell the game to open an automatic save from the branch-only file. The game gets confused and creates a third save file that combines the states of the original two.

This creates new issues, however. The merged file has a protagonist that never obtain the ability to enter sacred places. Fortunately, this is something that the file exploit addresses readily, but executing it means depending on an buggy version of the title that refuses to open some areas. Like everything else, he has a technical workaround for it: He begins Tears of the Kingdom on its early 1.0 build, and then patches the software midway through to make sure it begins working properly.

Bypassing Durability and Other Hurdles

Interestingly, the prologue form of the hero is coded so that he cannot damage any weapons he wields, likely to avoid a situation where the user gets trapped at the beginning of the game. But that's also how PointCrow gets around the wear problem, as the Link he transfers across universes is the version from the beginning of the game. It's a smart technique, but not a method that eradicates all possible difficulty. The stick is nonetheless a ineffective weapon that renders battles onerous. But at that point, it's entirely a question of determination and perseverance. It also helps that there's a duplication glitch that gives him an abundant number of items to improve his attack, or stock up on healing spirits. He also makes use of a glitch that allows Link to phase through the world. Some would find these methods grounds to discredit the legitimacy of the attempt, but to my view, he's a resourceful gamer who is willing to do whatever it takes to engage his viewer. He also implements a penalty of sorts stipulating that, for each spirit he uses, he'll remove a viewer from his Twitch chat, creating an incentive to avoid overly rely on them.

Boss Fights and the Last Encounter

The streamer manages to defeat many of the game's bosses, but the fights look grueling. The video edit of his quest doesn't make the audience sit through the whole fights, which is a blessing when some of them take multiple hours. A particular boss fight, Queen Gibdo, takes an astonishing 23 straight. The Ganondorf showdown, which depletes Link's hearts as it progresses, is a notable nail-biter. The indestructible stick is after all only a piece of wood. He can't always clone objects midway the battle.

So, is it possible? Technically, he does overcome the beast form of Ganon. But the software forces the player to use the Master Sword as the last attack, so strictly speaking, it's not fully a stick-only playthrough. But where's the challenge in that?

When everything is said and done, PointCrow removed more than a thousand users in his live stream. Rest in peace.