Streaming Personality Dedicates 37 Hours Attempting to Beat <em>The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom</em> With Only a One Stick

One could think that after two years since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom debuted, fans would have run out of creative challenge runs that apply unique rules on a playthrough. Yet, while numerous players have tried to finish Tears of the Kingdom with only a stick, streamer the streamer stands out as the player who endeavored to clear the adventure with a one stick—meaning, the very same one from start to finish.

The streamer is renowned for such difficult playthroughs, like the time he went through the game solely with explosives or the attempt where he tried to beat the story with no stamina. A one-branch run, however, seems unfeasible at face value. There's the game's introduction, which requires Link to use the Master Sword. Then, there's the whole durability system, which is particularly important when working with the weakest weapon in the entire game. But if the branch shatters, that's it. It's over.

So, How?

How did he do it? The straightforward answer is glitches. The complete story, believe it or not, is parallel universes. It turns out, you can manipulate Tears of the Kingdom's save file system to have separate playthroughs that impact one another. So the creator creates a “preparation” file where he advances standardly, and the actual save, where he's restricted. The setup file has him going through the intro and initial starting area, and this Link gains full stamina and hearts. From here, he triggers a cutscene and pauses midway through to tell the software to open an automatic save from the stick file. The game gets confused and creates a third save file that combines the conditions of the first two files.

This creates new problems, though. The merged save file has a protagonist that never obtain the ability to access shrines. Luckily, this is an issue that the save glitch addresses readily, but pulling it off means depending on an unstable version of the title that fails to open some areas. As with everything else, he has a clever workaround for it: He begins the game on its early version 1.0, and then updates the game partway through to make sure it begins functioning correctly.

Bypassing Weapon Wear and Other Hurdles

Interestingly, the introductory form of the hero is programmed so that he is unable to break any weapons he uses, likely to avoid a scenario where the user gets stuck at the start of the adventure. But that's additionally how the streamer gets around the wear issue, as the Link he pulls across dimensions is the version from the start of the game. It's a smart technique, but not one that eradicates all possible difficulty. The stick is nonetheless a ineffective item that makes battles tedious. But at that stage, it's all a matter of grit and dedication. It further aids that there's a copying exploit that gives him an abundant supply of consumables to boost his attack, or stock up on healing spirits. He also employs a glitch that allows Link to clip through the environment. A few would consider these means reason to question the validity of the run, but in my mind, he's a resourceful gamer who is ready to do whatever it takes to entertain his viewer. He further implements a penalty of sorts stipulating that, for every fairy he uses, he'll ban a fan from his live stream, creating an incentive to not overly rely on them.

Major Battles and the Last Showdown

PointCrow manages to get through several of Tears of the Kingdom's bosses, but the fights look grueling. The video version of his journey spares the viewer sit through the whole fights, which is a good thing when some of them take multiple long hours. One enemy encounter, Queen Gibdo, requires an astonishing twenty-three hours. The final villain battle, which erases Link's hearts as it unfolds, is a notable nail-biter. The unbreakable branch is after all just a stick. He is unable to always duplicate items midway the fight.

Did he succeed? Technically, he manages to defeat the dragon version of the antagonist. But the software compels the user to wield the Master Sword as the final strike, so strictly speaking, it's not fully a stick-only playthrough. But what fun is that?

When everything is said and done, the streamer banned over a thousand people in his live stream. Rest in peace.