Streaming Star Spends Thirty-Seven Straight Trying to Beat <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em> With Only a Single Stick

One could think that after two years since Tears of the Kingdom arrived, enthusiasts would have run out of creative self-imposed challenges that apply special rules on a playthrough. Yet, while numerous gamers have attempted to finish the game with just a stick, streamer the streamer holds the record as the individual who aimed to clear the game with a one stick—meaning, the very same stick throughout.

The streamer is famous for these kinds of challenge runs, like the time he went through the game solely with bombs or the effort where he aimed to beat the story with no stamina. A one-branch run, however, sounds impossible at first glance. There's the opening sequence, which requires the hero to use the legendary blade. Additionally, there's the whole weapon wear mechanic, which is especially important when working with the most fragile weapon in the entire world. Yet if the stick shatters, that's it. It's over.

The Method Behind the Madness

So, how? The straightforward answer is exploits. The complete answer, believe it or not, is alternate dimensions. It turns out, you can tweak the game's save file system to have distinct playthroughs that impact one another. So the creator creates a “setup” save where he advances normally, and the actual file, where he's limited. The preparatory file has him going through the prologue and initial starting area, and this character acquires full stamina and hearts. From here, he starts a cinematic and halts partway through to tell the software to open an auto-save from the branch-only file. The game gets confused and generates a third save file that merges the states of the original two.

This creates new problems, however. The merged save file has a protagonist that did not obtain the ability to access sacred places. Fortunately, this is an issue that the file exploit fixes easily, but executing it means relying on an buggy build of the title that refuses to open certain locations. Like everything else, he has a clever solution for it: He begins Tears of the Kingdom on its pre-release 1.0 build, and then patches the software midway through to make sure it begins functioning correctly.

Bypassing Weapon Wear and Additional Hurdles

Interestingly, the introductory version of Link is programmed so that he cannot damage any tools he wields, presumably to prevent a situation where the player gets stuck at the start of the adventure. But that's also how PointCrow gets around the wear problem, as the character he pulls across dimensions is the one from the start of the game. It's a smart trick, but not a method that eliminates all potential friction. The branch is still a ineffective item that renders encounters onerous. But at that stage, it's entirely a question of determination and perseverance. It further helps that there's a duplication glitch that gives him an plentiful number of consumables to improve his attack, or accumulate on healing spirits. He also makes use of a glitch that allows him to clip through the world. A few would consider these methods grounds to discredit the legitimacy of the attempt, but to my view, he's a resourceful gamer who is ready to do whatever it takes to engage his viewer. He further uses a penalty of sorts stipulating that, for each fairy he employs, he'll ban a fan from his Twitch chat, creating an incentive to not depend too much on them.

Boss Fights and the Last Showdown

PointCrow succeeds to defeat several of the game's bosses, but the battles look painful. The YouTube edit of his quest doesn't make the audience endure 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 incredible 23 hours. The final villain showdown, which depletes Link's health as it progresses, is a notable tense moment. The unbreakable branch is after all just 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 game forces the player to wield the Master Sword as the last attack, so strictly speaking, it's not fully a branch-exclusive playthrough. But what fun is that?

In the end, PointCrow banned over 1,000 people in his live stream. RIP.