Streaming Personality Spends Thirty-Seven Hours Trying to Beat <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a One Stick

One could think that two years post-launch since Tears of the Kingdom debuted, enthusiasts would have exhausted novel self-imposed challenges that impose unique rules on a playthrough. Yet, although numerous players have attempted to complete the game using only a stick, streamer the streamer stands out as the player who endeavored to beat the adventure with a single stick—specifically, the very same stick from start to finish.

PointCrow is famous for these kinds of difficult playthroughs, like the instance he went through the game using only bombs or the attempt where he aimed to defeat the game with no energy. A single stick playthrough, though, seems impossible at face value. There's the opening sequence, which forces Link to wield the legendary blade. Then, there's the entire weapon wear mechanic, which is particularly relevant when dealing with the weakest weapon in the entire game. But if the branch shatters, that's it. It's over.

The Method Behind the Madness

So, how? The straightforward explanation is exploits. The full answer, I kid you not, is alternate dimensions. Apparently, you can manipulate Tears of the Kingdom's saving mechanism to have separate playthroughs that impact one another. So PointCrow creates a “setup” file where he advances normally, and the real save, where he's restricted. The preparatory save has him completing the intro and initial tutorial island, and this character acquires maximum endurance and health. From this point, he starts a cutscene and halts midway through to instruct the game to load an auto-save from the stick file. The game gets confused and creates a third save file that merges the conditions of the first two files.

That creates new problems, though. The fused save file has a protagonist that did not obtain the ability to access shrines. Fortunately, this is something that the save glitch addresses easily, but executing it means depending on an buggy version of the title that fails to open certain locations. As with other obstacles, he has a technical solution for it: He starts the game on its early 1.0 build, and then patches the game partway through to ensure it starts functioning correctly.

Overcoming Weapon Wear and Additional Challenges

Curiously, the prologue version of the hero is programmed so that he is unable to damage any tools he uses, presumably to prevent a situation where the user gets stuck at the beginning of the game. But that's also how PointCrow bypasses the wear problem, as the Link he transfers across dimensions is the one from the beginning of the game. It's a smart technique, but not a method that eradicates all possible friction. The branch is still a weak item that renders encounters onerous. But at that point, it's entirely a matter of grit and dedication. It also aids that there's a copying exploit that gives him an abundant number of items to boost his attack, or stock up on healing spirits. He additionally employs a bug that allows Link to clip through the world. A few would consider these methods reason to discredit the validity of the attempt, but to my view, he's a resourceful player who is ready to do whatever it takes to engage his audience. He also implements a penalty of kinds stipulating that, for each fairy he uses, he'll ban one viewer from his Twitch chat, establishing an motivation to not depend too much on them.

Major Battles and the Last Encounter

PointCrow manages to get through several of the game's bosses, but the battles look painful. The YouTube version of his journey spares the viewer endure the entire fights, which is a good thing when some of them take several hours. A particular boss fight, a powerful foe, takes an astonishing 23 straight. The Ganondorf showdown, which depletes the hero's health as it unfolds, is a notable tense moment. The indestructible stick is after all just a piece of wood. He can't necessarily clone items during the fight.

Did he succeed? In a matter of speaking, he manages to defeat the beast form of the antagonist. But the game compels the player to wield the Master Sword as the last attack, so technically, it's not quite completely a branch-exclusive run. But where's the challenge in that?

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