Streaming Star Spends 37 Straight Attempting to Beat <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a One Stick

One could think that two years post-launch since Tears of the Kingdom debuted, fans would have run out of novel challenge runs that apply special restrictions on a gameplay session. However, although numerous gamers have attempted to finish the game with only a stick, content creator PointCrow stands out as the player who aimed to clear the adventure with a one stick—meaning, the very same stick from start to finish.

The streamer is renowned for these kinds of difficult playthroughs, like the time he played the game using only bombs or the effort where he aimed to defeat the story with zero stamina. A single stick run, though, seems unfeasible at first glance. There's the game's introduction, which forces Link to wield the Master Sword. Additionally, there's the entire weapon wear mechanic, which is particularly relevant when dealing with the weakest tool in the whole game. Yet if the branch breaks, that's the end. Game over.

So, How?

How did he do it? The straightforward answer is glitches. The complete story, believe it or not, is parallel universes. Apparently, you can tweak the game's save file system to have distinct game sessions that affect one another. So the creator creates a “setup” file where he advances standardly, and the real save, where he's restricted. The preparatory save has him completing the intro and first tutorial island, and this Link acquires full endurance and health. From this point, he triggers a cutscene and pauses partway through to tell the game to open an automatic save from the stick file. The system gets mixed up and creates a third game file that combines the states of the first two files.

This causes fresh problems, however. The merged file has a protagonist that did not obtain the capability to enter sacred places. Luckily, this is something that the save glitch fixes easily, but pulling it off means relying on an unstable version of the game that fails to open certain locations. As with other obstacles, 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 ensure it starts functioning correctly.

Overcoming Weapon Wear and Other Challenges

Interestingly, the introductory form of Link is coded so that he cannot break any tools he uses, presumably to prevent a situation where the player gets trapped at the beginning of the adventure. But that's also how PointCrow bypasses the durability issue, as the Link he pulls between dimensions is the version from the start of the story. It's a clever trick, but not a method that eradicates all possible difficulty. The branch is still a weak weapon that renders battles tedious. But at that point, it's entirely a matter of grit and perseverance. It also helps that there's a duplication glitch that gives him an abundant supply of consumables to improve his attack, or stock up on revival fairies. He also makes use of a glitch that enables him to clip through the world. A few would find these methods grounds to question the legitimacy of the attempt, but in my mind, he's a resourceful gamer who is willing to do anything necessary to engage his viewer. He further uses a safeguard of sorts stipulating that, for each fairy he uses, he'll remove one fan from his live stream, establishing an incentive to not depend too much on them.

Boss Fights and the Final Encounter

PointCrow manages to defeat several of the game's bosses, but the battles look painful. The video version of his journey doesn't make the audience sit through the whole conflicts, which is a blessing when some of them last several hours. A particular enemy encounter, Queen Gibdo, takes an astonishing twenty-three hours. The final villain showdown, which depletes Link's health as it progresses, is a notable nail-biter. The indestructible branch is after all just a piece of wood. He is unable to always duplicate objects midway the fight.

Did he succeed? Technically, he does overcome the dragon version of the antagonist. But the software forces the user to use the legendary weapon as the last strike, so technically, it's not fully a stick-only run. But what fun is that?

In the end, the streamer banned more than 1,000 people in his Twitch chat. Rest in peace.