Twitch Personality Spends Thirty-Seven Hours Attempting to Beat <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em> With Only a One Stick

One could think that two years post-launch since Tears of the Kingdom arrived, enthusiasts would have exhausted creative challenge runs that impose unique restrictions on a gameplay session. Yet, while numerous players have tried to finish the game with only a stick, streamer the streamer holds the record as the individual who aimed to beat the adventure with a single branch—meaning, the exact same stick throughout.

The streamer is famous for these kinds of challenge runs, such as the instance he went through the title using only explosives or the effort where he tried to defeat the game with zero energy. A single stick playthrough, however, sounds unfeasible at face value. There's the game's introduction, which forces Link to wield the legendary blade. Then, there's the entire durability mechanic, which is particularly important when dealing with the weakest weapon in the whole world. Yet if the branch breaks, that's it. Game over.

So, How?

So, how? The straightforward answer is glitches. The full 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 playthroughs that affect one another. So PointCrow creates a “setup” file where he advances normally, and the actual save, where he's restricted. The preparatory file has him going through the intro and first starting area, and this Link gains full endurance and hearts. From this point, he triggers a cinematic and pauses midway through to instruct the software to open an automatic save from the stick file. The game gets confused and creates a new game file that combines the states of the first two files.

This causes fresh issues, though. The fused file has a Link that never obtain the ability to access sacred places. Luckily, this is something that the save glitch addresses readily, but executing it means depending on an unstable version of the game that fails to open some areas. Like other obstacles, he has a technical workaround for it: He begins Tears of the Kingdom on its early version 1.0, and then patches the software midway through to make sure it begins working properly.

Overcoming Weapon Wear and Additional Hurdles

Interestingly, the prologue form of the hero is programmed so that he cannot damage any weapons he wields, likely to avoid a situation where the user gets stuck at the beginning of the adventure. But that's also how PointCrow gets around the wear issue, as the Link he transfers across dimensions is the version from the beginning of the game. It's a clever trick, but not one that eradicates all possible difficulty. The branch is still a weak item that makes battles onerous. But at that stage, it's entirely a matter of grit and perseverance. It further aids that there's a duplication glitch that grants him an plentiful supply of items to boost his strength, or accumulate on healing spirits. He also employs a bug that enables Link to phase through the world. Some would find these means reason to question the validity of the run, but in my mind, he's a resourceful player who is willing to do anything necessary to entertain his audience. He further uses a safeguard of kinds stating that, for every fairy he employs, he'll ban one fan from his Twitch chat, establishing an motivation to not overly rely on them.

Major Battles and the Final Showdown

The streamer manages to get through several of Tears of the Kingdom's bosses, but the fights appear grueling. The YouTube version of his quest spares the viewer endure the whole fights, which is a blessing when a few of them last several hours. A particular enemy encounter, Queen Gibdo, takes an astonishing 23 hours. The Ganondorf showdown, which depletes the hero's hearts as it unfolds, is a memorable nail-biter. The indestructible branch is after all only a stick. He can't always duplicate objects midway the battle.

So, is it possible? Technically, he manages to overcome the dragon version 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 branch-exclusive run. But where's the challenge in that?

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