Streaming Personality Spends Thirty-Seven Straight Attempting to Conquer <em>The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a Single Stick

One could think that two years post-launch since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom debuted, fans would have exhausted novel challenge runs that apply unique restrictions on a playthrough. Yet, although numerous players have tried to complete Tears of the Kingdom with only a wooden stick, streamer the streamer holds the record as the individual who endeavored to beat the adventure with a single stick—meaning, the exact same stick from start to finish.

The streamer is renowned for such challenge runs, like the time he went through the game using only bombs or the effort where he tried to defeat the game with zero stamina. A single stick playthrough, though, seems unfeasible at face value. There's the game's introduction, which forces Link to use the legendary blade. Additionally, there's the whole durability system, which is particularly relevant when working with the most fragile tool in the whole game. But if the branch breaks, that's the end. Game over.

So, How?

So, how? The simple explanation is exploits. The complete answer, I kid you not, is alternate dimensions. Apparently, you can tweak the game's save file system to have distinct game sessions that affect one another. So PointCrow does a “setup” save where he advances standardly, and the real save, where he's limited. The preparatory file has him completing the intro and initial starting area, and this character gains 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 stick file. The game gets confused and creates a new game file that merges the conditions of the original two.

This causes new issues, however. The merged save file has a Link that never obtain the ability to access shrines. Fortunately, this is an issue that the file exploit addresses easily, but pulling it off means depending on an buggy version of the game that refuses to open certain areas. As with other obstacles, he has a technical solution for it: He starts Tears of the Kingdom on its pre-release 1.0 build, and then patches the software midway through to make sure it begins working properly.

Overcoming Durability and Other Challenges

Curiously, the prologue version of the hero is coded so that he is unable to damage any weapons he wields, likely to avoid a situation where the user gets trapped at the beginning of the game. But that's also how PointCrow gets around the wear issue, as the character he pulls across dimensions is the one from the start of the story. It's a clever trick, but not a method that eliminates all potential friction. The stick is still a weak item that makes encounters tedious. But at that point, it's all a matter of grit and perseverance. It also aids that there's a copying exploit that grants him an abundant number of items to boost his strength, or stock up on healing spirits. He additionally makes use of a glitch that allows him to phase through the environment. A few would find these methods reason to question the legitimacy of the attempt, but in my mind, he's a inventive player who is willing to do whatever it takes to entertain his viewer. He further uses a penalty of kinds stating that, for every spirit he employs, he'll ban a fan from his live stream, establishing an motivation to avoid overly rely on them.

Boss Fights and the Final Showdown

The streamer manages to defeat many of the game's bosses, but the battles look grueling. The video edit of his journey doesn't make the audience endure the entire fights, which is a good thing when some of them take multiple long hours. A particular boss fight, Queen Gibdo, requires an incredible twenty-three hours. The final villain battle, which erases the hero's health as it unfolds, is a memorable tense moment. The indestructible stick is still only a piece of wood. He is unable to necessarily duplicate items midway the fight.

So, is it possible? Technically, PointCrow manages to defeat the dragon version of the antagonist. But the game 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 Twitch chat. Rest in peace.