Streaming Star Dedicates Thirty-Seven Straight Trying to Beat <em>The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a One Stick

One could think that after two years since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom debuted, fans would have exhausted creative self-imposed challenges that impose unique rules on a gameplay session. However, although numerous gamers have tried to complete the game using just a stick, streamer PointCrow holds the record as the player who endeavored to beat the adventure with a single stick—meaning, the very same stick throughout.

PointCrow is famous for such difficult playthroughs, such as the time he played the game solely with explosives or the effort where he tried to defeat the game with no energy. A single stick playthrough, however, seems impossible at first glance. There's the game's introduction, which forces the hero to use the legendary blade. Additionally, there's the whole weapon wear mechanic, which is especially relevant when working with the most fragile weapon in the entire world. But if the stick shatters, that's the end. It's over.

So, How?

So, how? The simple answer is glitches. The complete answer, I kid you not, is alternate dimensions. It turns out, you can manipulate the game's save file system to have separate playthroughs that impact 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 intro and first starting area, and this Link gains maximum endurance and health. From here, he triggers a cinematic and pauses partway through to instruct the game to load an automatic save from the branch-only file. The system gets mixed up and generates a third game file that combines the states of the original two.

That creates fresh problems, however. The fused save file has a Link that never acquired the capability to enter shrines. Luckily, this is an issue that the save glitch fixes easily, but executing it means relying on an unstable version of the title that fails to load certain areas. Like everything else, he has a technical workaround for it: He begins the game on its pre-release 1.0 build, and then patches the game partway through to make sure it starts functioning correctly.

Bypassing Durability and Other Hurdles

Interestingly, the prologue version of Link is coded so that he is unable to break any weapons he wields, likely to prevent a situation where the player gets trapped at the beginning of the adventure. But that's additionally how PointCrow gets around the durability issue, as the Link he pulls between dimensions is the version from the beginning of the game. It's a clever technique, but not one that eliminates all possible difficulty. The branch is nonetheless a weak item that renders battles tedious. But at that stage, it's entirely a matter of grit and perseverance. It further aids that there's a duplication glitch that gives him an plentiful number of consumables to improve his attack, or accumulate on healing spirits. He additionally employs a bug that allows Link to phase 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 anything necessary to entertain his viewer. He also uses a safeguard of sorts stating that, for every spirit he employs, he'll ban one viewer from his live stream, creating an incentive to avoid overly rely on them.

Major Battles and the Final Showdown

The streamer manages to defeat many of the game's main enemies, but the fights look grueling. The video version of his quest spares the viewer endure the entire conflicts, which is a blessing when some of them take multiple hours. A particular boss fight, Queen Gibdo, takes an astonishing 23 hours. The Ganondorf battle, which erases Link's health as it progresses, is a notable tense moment. The indestructible branch is still only a stick. He is unable to always clone objects during the battle.

So, is it possible? Technically, he manages to overcome the dragon version of the antagonist. But the game forces the user to wield the legendary weapon as the final attack, so technically, it's not quite completely a stick-only run. But what fun is that?

In the end, PointCrow banned over 1,000 users in his Twitch chat. Rest in peace.