Twitch Star Dedicates 37 Straight Attempting to Beat <em>The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom</em> With Only a One Stick

You might assume that after two years since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom arrived, enthusiasts would have exhausted novel challenge runs that impose unique restrictions on a playthrough. Yet, while numerous players have attempted to finish the game with only a wooden stick, streamer the streamer holds the record as the player who aimed to clear the game with a one stick—meaning, the very same stick throughout.

The streamer is renowned for these kinds of challenge runs, such as the instance he played the title using only bombs or the attempt where he tried to defeat the game with no energy. A single stick playthrough, however, sounds unfeasible at first glance. There's the game's introduction, which forces Link to use the legendary blade. Then, there's the entire weapon wear system, which is particularly important when dealing with the most fragile weapon in the entire game. Yet if the stick breaks, that's it. Game over.

The Method Behind the Madness

So, how? The simple explanation is exploits. The complete answer, believe it or not, is parallel universes. Apparently, you can manipulate the game's save file system to have separate game sessions that affect one another. So the creator does a “preparation” file where he progresses normally, and the real file, where he's restricted. The setup file has him completing the intro and first starting area, and this character gains maximum stamina and hearts. From this point, he triggers a cinematic and pauses midway through to instruct the software to load an auto-save from the branch-only file. The system gets confused and creates a new game file that merges the conditions of the original two.

This creates new issues, however. The fused file has a protagonist that did not obtain the capability to access 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 game that fails to load certain areas. As with other obstacles, he has a clever workaround for it: He begins Tears of the Kingdom on its pre-release 1.0 build, and then patches the game partway through to make sure it starts functioning correctly.

Bypassing Durability and Other Challenges

Curiously, the prologue form of the hero is coded so that he is unable to break any tools he uses, presumably to avoid a scenario where the user gets stuck at the beginning of the adventure. But that's additionally how PointCrow bypasses the wear problem, as the Link he pulls between dimensions is the version from the beginning of the game. It's a smart technique, but not a method that eradicates all possible difficulty. The stick is nonetheless a ineffective weapon that renders encounters onerous. But at that point, it's entirely a question of determination and dedication. It further aids that there's a duplication glitch that gives him an plentiful supply of items to improve his strength, or stock up on revival fairies. He additionally makes use of a glitch that allows Link to clip through the world. Some would find these means grounds to discredit the legitimacy of the attempt, but in my mind, he's a resourceful player who is ready to do anything necessary to entertain his audience. He further uses a penalty of kinds stating that, for every fairy he employs, he'll ban a viewer from his live stream, creating an incentive to avoid overly rely on them.

Boss Fights and the Last Encounter

The streamer manages to defeat several of Tears of the Kingdom's main enemies, but the battles appear painful. The video edit of his journey spares the viewer endure the whole fights, which is a blessing when some of them take several hours. One boss fight, Queen Gibdo, takes an astonishing twenty-three straight. The final villain battle, which erases Link's hearts as it unfolds, is a memorable nail-biter. The indestructible branch is after all only a stick. He is unable to necessarily duplicate items during the battle.

Did he succeed? In a matter of speaking, he does defeat the beast form of the antagonist. But the software compels the player to use the Master Sword as the final attack, so strictly speaking, it's not completely a stick-only run. But what fun is that?

In the end, PointCrow removed more than 1,000 users in his live stream. RIP.