Streaming Star Spends Thirty-Seven Hours Trying to Conquer <em>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, fans would have run out of novel challenge runs that apply unique restrictions on a playthrough. Yet, while numerous players have tried to complete Tears of the Kingdom with only a stick, streamer the streamer stands out as the individual who aimed to clear the adventure with a one stick—specifically, the exact same stick throughout.

The streamer is famous for such difficult playthroughs, like the instance he went through the title using only explosives or the attempt where he aimed to defeat the story with no energy. A one-branch run, however, seems unfeasible at face value. There's the opening sequence, which requires Link to wield the legendary blade. Then, there's the entire durability mechanic, which is particularly important when working with the most fragile weapon in the whole game. But if the branch breaks, that's it. It's over.

The Method Behind the Madness

So, how? The simple explanation is exploits. The complete answer, believe it or not, is alternate dimensions. It turns out, you can tweak Tears of the Kingdom's save file system to have separate game sessions that affect one another. So the creator creates a “preparation” file where he advances standardly, and the actual save, where he's limited. The setup save has him completing the prologue and initial starting area, and this Link acquires full stamina and hearts. From here, he starts a cinematic and halts midway through to tell the game to load an automatic save from the branch-only file. The game gets mixed up and generates a new game file that combines the conditions of the first two files.

That causes new issues, however. The merged save file has a protagonist that did not obtain the capability to access shrines. Luckily, this is something that the save glitch addresses easily, but executing it means depending on an buggy version of the game that fails to open certain areas. Like everything else, he has a technical solution for it: He starts the game on its early version 1.0, and then patches the software partway through to make sure it begins functioning correctly.

Bypassing Weapon Wear and Additional Challenges

Curiously, the introductory version of the hero is programmed so that he cannot break any weapons he wields, likely to avoid a situation where the user gets trapped at the start of the game. But that's also how the streamer bypasses the durability issue, as the character he pulls between dimensions is the one from the start of the story. It's a clever trick, but not one that eliminates all potential difficulty. The branch is still a ineffective weapon that makes encounters tedious. But at that point, it's entirely a matter of grit and perseverance. It further aids that there's a duplication glitch that gives him an plentiful supply of items to boost his strength, or accumulate on revival fairies. He also makes use of a glitch that allows him to clip through the environment. A few would find these means reason to question the validity of the attempt, but in my mind, he's a resourceful gamer who is willing to do anything necessary to engage his audience. He further implements a penalty of kinds stipulating that, for every spirit he employs, he'll ban one viewer from his live stream, establishing an incentive to avoid overly rely on them.

Boss Fights and the Last Encounter

PointCrow manages to get through many of the game's main enemies, but the battles look painful. The YouTube edit of his quest doesn't make the viewer endure the entire fights, which is a good thing when some of them take several long hours. One enemy encounter, a powerful foe, requires an incredible twenty-three hours. The Ganondorf showdown, which depletes the hero's hearts as it progresses, is a notable nail-biter. The unbreakable stick is still just a piece of wood. He can't always duplicate items during the battle.

So, is it possible? Technically, he does defeat the dragon version of Ganon. But the software compels the user to use the Master Sword as the final strike, so strictly speaking, it's not fully a stick-only playthrough. But what fun is that?

In the end, the streamer banned over 1,000 people in his live stream. Rest in peace.