Streaming Personality Dedicates Thirty-Seven Straight Attempting to Beat <em>The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a Single Branch

One could think that after two years since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom debuted, enthusiasts would have run out of novel self-imposed challenges that impose unique rules on a playthrough. Yet, while many gamers have tried to finish Tears of the Kingdom with just a wooden stick, content creator the streamer holds the record as the player who endeavored to beat the game with a one stick—meaning, the very same stick throughout.

PointCrow is renowned for such challenge runs, such as the time he played the title using only explosives or the effort where he tried to beat the story with zero energy. A single stick run, though, seems impossible at first glance. There's the game's introduction, which requires Link to use the Master Sword. Then, there's the whole weapon wear mechanic, which is particularly important when working with the most fragile tool in the entire world. But if the stick breaks, that's it. Game over.

So, How?

How did he do it? The simple answer is glitches. The full answer, believe it or not, is parallel universes. It turns out, you can tweak the game's saving mechanism to have distinct game sessions that affect one another. So PointCrow does a “preparation” save where he advances standardly, and the actual file, where he's restricted. The setup file has him completing the prologue and first starting area, and this Link acquires maximum stamina and hearts. From here, he starts a cutscene and halts partway through to tell the software to open an automatic save from the branch-only file. The system gets confused and generates a third game file that combines the states of the original two.

That creates new problems, however. The fused save file has a protagonist that did not acquired the capability to enter sacred places. Luckily, this is an issue that the file exploit addresses easily, but pulling it off means relying on an unstable version of the game that refuses to open 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 updates the game partway through to make sure it starts functioning correctly.

Bypassing Weapon Wear and Additional Hurdles

Interestingly, the prologue form of Link is programmed so that he is unable to damage any weapons he uses, likely to prevent a situation where the user gets stuck at the beginning of the game. But that's additionally how PointCrow gets around the wear problem, as the Link he pulls between dimensions is the version from the start of the story. It's a smart trick, but not a method that eradicates all possible friction. The branch is nonetheless a ineffective weapon that makes battles onerous. But at that point, it's all a question of determination and perseverance. It also helps that there's a duplication glitch that grants him an abundant supply of consumables to improve his attack, or stock up on healing spirits. He also employs a glitch that allows him to phase through the world. Some would consider these means grounds to discredit the validity of the attempt, but in my mind, he's a resourceful player who is ready to do whatever it takes to engage his audience. He further uses a penalty of kinds stipulating that, for each fairy he uses, he'll remove one fan from his Twitch chat, creating an motivation to avoid depend too much on them.

Boss Fights and the Last Encounter

The streamer manages to defeat several of Tears of the Kingdom's bosses, but the fights appear painful. The video edit of his journey doesn't make the audience sit through the whole fights, which is a blessing when some of them last several long hours. One boss fight, a powerful foe, takes an astonishing 23 hours. The Ganondorf showdown, which depletes Link's hearts as it progresses, is a notable nail-biter. The unbreakable stick is still only a piece of wood. He can't always duplicate items midway the fight.

Did he succeed? In a matter of speaking, he does overcome the beast form of Ganon. But the game forces the player to use the Master Sword as the final attack, so technically, it's not quite completely a stick-only run. But where's the challenge in that?

When everything is said and done, the streamer removed more than a thousand people in his Twitch chat. Rest in peace.