Twitch Star Dedicates Thirty-Seven Hours Trying to Conquer <em>The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom</em> With Only a One Stick

One could think that after two years since Tears of the Kingdom arrived, fans would have exhausted novel self-imposed challenges that apply special rules on a playthrough. Yet, although numerous players have tried to finish the game with just a stick, streamer the streamer holds the record as the player who aimed to beat the game with a one stick—specifically, the very same one from start to finish.

PointCrow is famous for such difficult playthroughs, like the time he went through the game using only explosives or the attempt where he aimed to defeat the story with zero stamina. A single stick playthrough, though, seems unfeasible at face value. There's the opening sequence, which requires Link to wield the Master Sword. Additionally, there's the entire weapon wear mechanic, which is especially relevant when working with the weakest tool in the entire world. But if the branch breaks, that's the end. It's over.

So, How?

So, how? The straightforward explanation is glitches. The complete story, I kid you not, is parallel universes. It turns out, you can manipulate the game's saving mechanism to have distinct game sessions that impact one another. So the creator creates a “preparation” save where he progresses normally, and the real file, where he's restricted. The preparatory file has him completing the intro and first starting area, and this Link gains maximum stamina and health. From this point, he triggers a cutscene and halts partway through to tell the game to open an auto-save from the stick file. The system gets mixed up and creates a third game file that merges the conditions of the original two.

That causes fresh issues, though. The merged file has a Link that did not acquired the ability to enter shrines. Fortunately, this is an issue that the save glitch fixes easily, but pulling it off means depending on an unstable version of the title that fails to open certain areas. Like everything else, he has a clever solution for it: He begins Tears of the Kingdom on its early 1.0 build, and then updates the software midway through to make sure it begins functioning correctly.

Overcoming Durability and Additional Challenges

Interestingly, the prologue form of Link is programmed so that he is unable to damage any weapons he uses, presumably to prevent a situation where the player gets stuck at the beginning of the game. But that's also how PointCrow bypasses the durability issue, as the character he transfers between dimensions is the one from the beginning of the game. It's a smart trick, but not one that eradicates all potential difficulty. The branch is still a ineffective item that renders encounters onerous. But at that point, it's all a question of determination and dedication. It also helps that there's a copying exploit that gives him an abundant number of consumables to improve his attack, or accumulate on revival fairies. He also makes use of a glitch that allows Link to clip through the environment. A few would find these means grounds to discredit the legitimacy of the run, but in my mind, he's a resourceful gamer who is willing to do anything necessary to engage his audience. He also implements a safeguard of kinds stipulating that, for each spirit he uses, he'll remove one viewer from his live stream, establishing an incentive to not depend too much on them.

Boss Fights and the Last Encounter

PointCrow manages to get through several of the game's bosses, but the fights look painful. The YouTube edit of his quest doesn't make the audience endure the entire conflicts, which is a good thing when some of them last multiple hours. One enemy encounter, a powerful foe, requires an astonishing 23 straight. The final villain battle, which depletes the hero's hearts as it progresses, is a notable tense moment. The indestructible stick is still only a stick. He is unable to necessarily clone items during the battle.

Did he succeed? In a matter of speaking, PointCrow does overcome the dragon version of Ganon. But the software compels the user to wield the Master Sword as the last attack, so technically, it's not quite fully a stick-only run. But what fun is that?

In the end, the streamer removed over a thousand people in his live stream. Rest in peace.