Streaming Personality Spends 37 Hours Attempting to Beat <em>The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom</em> With Only a Single Stick

You might assume that after two years since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom arrived, enthusiasts would have run out of creative challenge runs that apply special rules on a playthrough. However, while many gamers have attempted to finish the game with just a stick, streamer PointCrow stands out as the individual who aimed to beat the game with a one stick—meaning, the exact same one from start to finish.

The streamer is renowned for these kinds of challenge runs, like the instance he went through the game using only bombs or the effort where he aimed to beat the story with zero energy. A single stick playthrough, though, seems impossible at face value. There's the game's introduction, which requires the hero to use the Master Sword. Additionally, there's the entire weapon wear mechanic, which is particularly important when dealing with the weakest weapon in the entire game. But if the stick shatters, that's the end. It's over.

So, How?

How did he do it? The simple answer is glitches. The full answer, believe it or not, is alternate dimensions. It turns out, you can tweak the game's save file system to have separate playthroughs that impact one another. So the creator does a “preparation” file where he advances normally, and the real save, where he's limited. The setup file has him going through the prologue and initial starting area, and this character gains full endurance and hearts. From here, he triggers a cutscene and halts partway through to tell the game to load an automatic save from the branch-only file. The system gets mixed up and creates a third save file that combines the states of the first two files.

This creates fresh problems, though. The fused file has a Link that did not obtain the capability to enter sacred places. Fortunately, this is something that the save glitch addresses readily, but pulling it off means depending on an buggy build of the game that refuses to open some areas. Like other obstacles, he has a clever workaround for it: He starts Tears of the Kingdom on its pre-release 1.0 build, and then patches the game midway through to ensure it begins functioning correctly.

Overcoming Durability and Additional Hurdles

Curiously, the prologue version of the hero is coded so that he is unable to damage any tools he wields, presumably to avoid a situation where the player gets stuck at the beginning of the adventure. But that's additionally how PointCrow bypasses the wear issue, as the Link he transfers between dimensions is the version from the start of the game. It's a clever technique, but not one that eliminates all potential friction. The stick is still a ineffective weapon that renders battles onerous. But at that point, it's entirely a matter of determination and dedication. It also aids that there's a copying exploit that grants him an plentiful number of consumables to boost his attack, or stock up on healing spirits. He also makes use of a glitch that allows him to clip through the world. Some would find these means reason to discredit the legitimacy of the attempt, but in my mind, he's a inventive player who is ready to do whatever it takes to engage his audience. He further uses a safeguard of sorts stating that, for every fairy he employs, he'll ban a fan from his live stream, establishing an incentive 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 grueling. The video edit of his journey doesn't make the audience sit through the whole fights, which is a good thing when a few of them last multiple hours. A particular boss fight, a powerful foe, takes an astonishing twenty-three hours. The Ganondorf battle, which depletes Link's health as it unfolds, is a memorable nail-biter. The indestructible stick is still just a stick. He is unable to necessarily duplicate items during the battle.

So, is it possible? In a matter of speaking, PointCrow does overcome the dragon version of Ganon. But the game compels the user to use the Master Sword as the final strike, so strictly speaking, it's not completely a stick-only run. But what fun is that?

In the end, the streamer banned over 1,000 users in his live stream. RIP.