Twitch Personality Dedicates Thirty-Seven Straight Attempting to Conquer <em>The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom</em> With Only a Single Stick

You might assume that two years post-launch since Tears of the Kingdom debuted, fans would have run out of creative challenge runs that apply unique restrictions on a playthrough. However, although many players have attempted to complete the game using only a wooden stick, content creator the streamer stands out as the individual who endeavored to beat the adventure with a one stick—specifically, the exact same stick from start to finish.

PointCrow is renowned for these kinds of challenge runs, such as the instance he played the title using only explosives or the attempt where he aimed to defeat the game with no stamina. A single stick playthrough, however, sounds unfeasible at face value. There's the game's introduction, which requires the hero to wield the Master Sword. Then, there's the entire weapon wear system, which is especially relevant when working with the most fragile weapon in the whole world. But if the branch shatters, that's the end. It's over.

So, How?

How did he do it? The simple explanation is exploits. The complete story, believe it or not, is parallel universes. Apparently, you can manipulate the game's save file system to have separate playthroughs that impact one another. So PointCrow creates a “preparation” file where he progresses normally, and the real file, where he's restricted. The setup file has him going through the intro and first tutorial island, and this Link acquires maximum endurance and health. From this point, he starts a cutscene and pauses partway through to instruct the software to open an automatic save from the stick file. The game gets mixed up and creates a third game file that merges the states of the first two files.

This causes fresh issues, however. The fused file has a Link that never acquired the capability to access shrines. Fortunately, this is an issue that the file exploit fixes readily, but executing it means depending on an buggy build of the title that refuses to load certain locations. As with other obstacles, he has a clever solution for it: He starts Tears of the Kingdom on its pre-release 1.0 build, and then patches the game partway through to ensure it starts working properly.

Overcoming Durability and Other Challenges

Interestingly, the prologue version of the hero is coded so that he cannot damage any tools he uses, likely to avoid a situation where the user gets stuck at the beginning of the adventure. But that's additionally how the streamer gets around the durability problem, as the character he transfers across universes is the one from the start of the game. It's a clever trick, but not one that eradicates all possible difficulty. The stick is nonetheless a ineffective weapon that makes encounters onerous. But at that point, it's entirely a question of determination and dedication. It further aids that there's a duplication glitch that gives him an plentiful supply of items to boost his attack, or accumulate on revival fairies. He also employs a glitch that allows him to phase through the world. Some would find these methods grounds to question the legitimacy of the run, but in my mind, he's a resourceful player who is willing to do anything necessary to entertain his audience. He also uses a safeguard of sorts stipulating that, for every spirit he uses, he'll remove a viewer from his live stream, creating an incentive to avoid overly rely on them.

Boss Fights and the Final Encounter

The streamer succeeds to get through several of Tears of the Kingdom's main enemies, but the fights look painful. The YouTube version of his quest spares the viewer endure the whole conflicts, which is a blessing when some of them take several long hours. One enemy encounter, a powerful foe, requires an astonishing twenty-three hours. The final villain showdown, which depletes the hero's health as it unfolds, is a memorable tense moment. The unbreakable stick is still just a stick. He is unable to necessarily clone objects during the battle.

Did he succeed? Technically, PointCrow manages to overcome the dragon version of the antagonist. But the game compels the player to use the Master Sword as the last attack, so technically, it's not quite fully a stick-only playthrough. But where's the challenge in that?

When everything is said and done, the streamer banned over 1,000 people in his Twitch chat. Rest in peace.