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

You might assume that after two years since Tears of the Kingdom arrived, fans would have run out of creative self-imposed challenges that impose unique restrictions on a gameplay session. However, although many players have attempted to finish Tears of the Kingdom with just a wooden stick, streamer the streamer stands out as the individual who aimed to clear the game with a single stick—meaning, the exact same one from start to finish.

PointCrow is famous for such challenge runs, such as the instance he went through the game solely with bombs or the effort where he tried to beat the game with no stamina. A one-branch run, however, seems unfeasible at face value. There's the opening sequence, which forces the hero to use the legendary blade. Then, there's the entire durability system, which is particularly important when working with the most fragile weapon in the entire world. But if the branch shatters, that's it. It's over.

The Method Behind the Madness

So, how? The straightforward explanation is glitches. The complete answer, I kid you not, is parallel universes. It turns out, you can tweak the game's save file system to have distinct 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 initial tutorial island, and this Link gains full endurance and hearts. From this point, he starts a cutscene and pauses midway through to instruct the software to open an automatic save from the stick file. The system gets confused and creates a new game file that merges the conditions of the first two files.

This causes new problems, however. The merged file has a Link that never acquired the ability to enter sacred places. Fortunately, this is an issue that the save glitch addresses readily, but pulling it off means depending on an unstable build of the title that refuses to open some areas. Like other obstacles, he has a clever workaround for it: He starts the game on its early 1.0 build, and then patches the game partway through to make sure it begins functioning correctly.

Bypassing Durability and Additional Hurdles

Interestingly, the prologue form of Link is coded so that he cannot damage any weapons he wields, presumably to avoid a scenario where the player gets trapped at the beginning of the adventure. But that's additionally how PointCrow gets around the wear issue, as the Link he pulls between universes is the one from the start of the game. It's a clever trick, but not a method that eradicates all potential friction. The stick is still a ineffective item that makes encounters onerous. But at that stage, it's entirely a question of grit and dedication. It also helps that there's a duplication glitch that grants him an abundant number of items to boost his strength, or accumulate on revival fairies. He also employs a glitch that allows Link to clip through the environment. Some would consider these means reason to question the validity 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 uses a penalty of sorts stipulating that, for each fairy he employs, he'll remove one fan from his live stream, establishing an motivation to not overly rely on them.

Major Battles and the Last Encounter

PointCrow manages to defeat several of the game's bosses, but the fights look painful. The video version of his journey doesn't make the viewer sit through the whole fights, which is a good thing when a few of them last multiple long hours. One boss fight, Queen Gibdo, requires an astonishing twenty-three hours. The Ganondorf showdown, which erases Link's hearts as it unfolds, is a notable tense moment. The indestructible branch is still only a piece of wood. He can't always duplicate objects during the fight.

Did he succeed? In a matter of speaking, PointCrow manages to overcome the beast form of Ganon. But the game forces the player to wield the Master Sword as the final strike, so strictly speaking, it's not fully a stick-only playthrough. But where's the challenge in that?

In the end, PointCrow removed over 1,000 people in his live stream. RIP.