Streaming Star Spends Thirty-Seven Straight Attempting to Conquer <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a One Stick

One could think that two years post-launch since Tears of the Kingdom debuted, fans would have run out of creative challenge runs that impose special rules on a gameplay session. However, although many gamers have attempted to finish Tears of the Kingdom with only a stick, streamer the streamer holds the record as the player who aimed to clear the adventure with a single stick—specifically, the exact same stick from start to finish.

PointCrow is famous for such difficult playthroughs, such as the instance he played the title solely with explosives or the attempt where he aimed to defeat the game with no stamina. A single stick run, though, sounds impossible at face value. There's the game's introduction, which requires the hero to use the Master Sword. Additionally, there's the entire durability mechanic, which is particularly relevant when working with the most fragile weapon in the whole game. Yet if the branch breaks, that's the end. Game over.

So, How?

How did he do it? The simple answer is exploits. The complete story, believe it or not, is parallel universes. It turns out, you can manipulate the game's save file system to have distinct playthroughs that affect one another. So the creator does a “setup” file where he progresses standardly, and the actual save, where he's restricted. The preparatory file has him going through the intro and initial tutorial island, and this character gains full endurance and hearts. From this point, he triggers a cutscene and pauses midway through to instruct the software to load an auto-save from the branch-only file. The system gets confused and generates a new game file that merges the states of the original two.

That creates fresh issues, however. The merged file has a Link that did not acquired the capability to access shrines. Luckily, this is an issue that the save glitch fixes easily, but pulling it off means relying on an unstable build of the game that fails to open some areas. As with other obstacles, he has a technical solution for it: He starts the game on its early version 1.0, and then patches the game partway through to ensure it begins working properly.

Overcoming Weapon Wear and Other Hurdles

Interestingly, the introductory form of Link is coded so that he is unable to damage any tools he wields, likely to avoid a situation where the player gets stuck at the beginning of the game. But that's additionally how PointCrow gets around the durability issue, as the character he transfers between dimensions is the version from the beginning of the game. It's a smart technique, but not a method that eliminates all possible difficulty. The stick is still a weak weapon that renders encounters tedious. But at that stage, it's entirely a matter of determination and perseverance. It also helps that there's a duplication glitch that grants him an abundant number of items to boost his attack, or stock up on revival fairies. He additionally employs a glitch that enables him to clip through the environment. Some would find these means grounds to question the legitimacy of the run, but to my view, he's a resourceful player who is willing to do whatever it takes to entertain his viewer. He further implements a penalty of kinds stating that, for each spirit he uses, he'll ban a viewer from his live stream, establishing an incentive to not overly rely on them.

Major Battles and the Last Showdown

PointCrow manages to defeat several of the game's bosses, but the fights look grueling. The YouTube version of his journey spares the audience endure the whole conflicts, which is a good thing when a few of them take multiple long hours. One enemy encounter, Queen Gibdo, takes an incredible twenty-three hours. The Ganondorf showdown, which erases the hero's hearts as it unfolds, is a memorable tense moment. The indestructible branch is after all just a piece of wood. He is unable to always clone objects during the fight.

Did he succeed? In a matter of speaking, PointCrow does defeat the dragon version of the antagonist. But the game forces the user to wield the Master Sword as the last attack, so strictly speaking, it's not completely a stick-only playthrough. But where's the challenge in that?

When everything is said and done, PointCrow removed more than a thousand users in his Twitch chat. Rest in peace.