Streaming Personality Spends 37 Straight Attempting to Beat <em>The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a Single Stick

One could think that two years post-launch since Tears of the Kingdom debuted, enthusiasts would have run out of novel challenge runs that impose special restrictions on a playthrough. However, while numerous players have attempted to finish the game using only a stick, streamer the streamer holds the record as the player who endeavored to beat the adventure with a single branch—specifically, the very same stick throughout.

The streamer is famous for such difficult playthroughs, like the instance he played the title using only bombs or the effort where he aimed to beat the game with zero energy. A one-branch run, though, seems unfeasible at face value. There's the opening sequence, which requires Link to use the Master Sword. Additionally, there's the whole weapon wear mechanic, which is especially relevant when dealing with the most fragile tool in the whole game. But if the branch shatters, that's the end. It's over.

So, How?

So, how? The simple explanation is glitches. The full story, believe it or not, is parallel universes. It turns out, you can manipulate the game's save file system to have separate game sessions that affect one another. So PointCrow creates a “setup” file where he advances standardly, and the actual save, where he's limited. The setup file has him going through the intro and first tutorial island, and this character acquires full endurance and hearts. From this point, he triggers a cutscene and pauses partway through to tell the game to load an automatic save from the branch-only file. The game gets mixed up and generates a new game file that merges the states of the first two files.

This creates new problems, though. The fused save file has a protagonist that never obtain the capability to access shrines. Luckily, this is something that the file exploit fixes readily, but pulling it off means depending on an buggy version of the title that fails to load some areas. Like other obstacles, he has a clever workaround for it: He begins the game on its pre-release version 1.0, and then patches the software midway through to make sure it begins working properly.

Bypassing Durability and Other Hurdles

Interestingly, the prologue form of Link is programmed so that he is unable to break any tools he uses, likely to avoid a situation where the user gets stuck at the beginning of the game. But that's additionally how PointCrow bypasses the wear issue, as the Link he transfers across universes is the version from the beginning of the game. It's a smart technique, but not one that eliminates all possible friction. The branch is nonetheless a weak item that renders encounters tedious. But at that point, it's entirely a question of determination and dedication. It also aids that there's a copying exploit that grants him an abundant supply of consumables to improve his attack, or stock up on revival fairies. He additionally employs a glitch that allows him to phase through the environment. A few would find 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 viewer. He also uses a safeguard of kinds stipulating that, for every fairy he uses, he'll remove one fan from his live stream, establishing an incentive to not depend too much on them.

Boss Fights and the Final Showdown

PointCrow manages to get through many of the game's bosses, but the fights look grueling. The YouTube edit of his journey doesn't make the audience sit through the entire conflicts, which is a good thing when a few of them last multiple long hours. A particular enemy encounter, a powerful foe, takes an astonishing twenty-three straight. The final villain showdown, which depletes Link's hearts as it unfolds, is a notable nail-biter. The unbreakable stick is still just a piece of wood. He can't always clone objects during the fight.

So, is it possible? Technically, he manages to overcome the dragon version of Ganon. But the game compels the user to wield the Master Sword as the final attack, so strictly speaking, it's not quite completely a branch-exclusive playthrough. But what fun is that?

When everything is said and done, the streamer removed over a thousand people in his live stream. RIP.