Streaming Star Spends 37 Hours Attempting to Beat <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a Single Stick

One could think that after two years since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom debuted, enthusiasts would have exhausted novel challenge runs that impose special rules on a playthrough. However, although many gamers have tried to complete Tears of the Kingdom with only a stick, streamer PointCrow holds the record as the player who endeavored to beat the adventure with a one stick—specifically, the very same stick from start to finish.

PointCrow is famous for these kinds of difficult playthroughs, such as the instance he went through the title solely with bombs or the effort where he aimed to defeat the game with zero stamina. A one-branch playthrough, however, sounds unfeasible at first glance. There's the game's introduction, which requires Link to use the legendary blade. Then, there's the entire durability system, which is particularly important when working with the weakest weapon in the entire game. Yet if the stick shatters, that's it. It's over.

So, How?

So, how? The straightforward explanation is exploits. The full story, I kid you not, is alternate dimensions. It turns out, you can tweak Tears of the Kingdom's saving mechanism to have separate playthroughs that impact one another. So PointCrow does a “setup” file where he advances normally, and the actual save, where he's restricted. The preparatory file has him going through the prologue and initial starting area, and this Link gains maximum endurance and hearts. From here, he starts a cinematic and pauses midway through to tell the game to load an automatic save from the stick file. The system gets confused and generates a third game file that merges the conditions of the first two files.

This causes fresh problems, however. The merged file has a Link that did not obtain the capability to enter shrines. Luckily, this is an issue that the file exploit fixes readily, but pulling it off means relying on an buggy version of the game that fails to open certain areas. As with other obstacles, he has a technical solution for it: He begins the game on its pre-release version 1.0, and then updates the software midway through to make sure it starts functioning correctly.

Overcoming Durability and Additional Hurdles

Curiously, the introductory form of Link is programmed so that he is unable to damage any weapons he uses, presumably to avoid a scenario where the player gets stuck at the beginning of the adventure. But that's additionally how PointCrow bypasses the durability problem, as the Link he transfers across universes is the one from the beginning of the story. It's a clever trick, but not a method that eliminates all possible friction. The branch is still a ineffective item that makes encounters onerous. But at that stage, it's entirely a matter of determination and perseverance. It further helps that there's a duplication glitch that gives him an plentiful supply of consumables to improve his strength, or accumulate on healing spirits. He also employs a glitch that allows Link to phase through the environment. A few would find these methods 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 audience. He also uses a penalty of sorts stating that, for every fairy he employs, he'll remove a viewer from his live stream, creating an motivation to not depend too much on them.

Boss Fights and the Last Showdown

The streamer manages to get through several of Tears of the Kingdom's main enemies, but the fights appear painful. The YouTube edit of his quest spares the audience endure the whole fights, which is a blessing when a few of them last several hours. A particular enemy encounter, Queen Gibdo, requires an incredible twenty-three straight. The final villain battle, which depletes the hero's hearts as it unfolds, is a memorable nail-biter. The unbreakable branch is still only a stick. He is unable to always clone items during the fight.

Did he succeed? Technically, PointCrow manages to overcome the dragon version of the antagonist. But the game forces the user to use the legendary weapon as the final attack, so strictly speaking, it's not completely a stick-only run. But what fun is that?

When everything is said and done, PointCrow removed over 1,000 users in his live stream. RIP.