Streaming Personality Spends Thirty-Seven Hours Attempting to Beat <em>The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a Single Stick
You might assume that two years post-launch since Tears of the Kingdom debuted, enthusiasts would have run out of novel challenge runs that impose special rules on a playthrough. However, although many players have attempted to finish the game with just a stick, streamer PointCrow holds the record as the player who endeavored to beat the game with a single stick—meaning, the very same one throughout.
The streamer is renowned for such difficult playthroughs, like the instance he went through the title solely with bombs or the effort where he tried to beat the game with no energy. A single stick playthrough, however, seems impossible at face value. There's the opening sequence, which requires the hero to use the Master Sword. Additionally, there's the whole durability mechanic, which is especially relevant when dealing with the weakest weapon in the whole world. But if the stick breaks, that's the end. Game over.
The Method Behind the Madness
How did he do it? The simple answer is exploits. The full answer, I kid you not, is parallel universes. Apparently, you can tweak the game's save file system to have separate playthroughs that affect one another. So PointCrow does a “setup” save where he progresses standardly, and the real file, where he's restricted. The preparatory file has him going through the intro and initial starting area, and this Link acquires full stamina and health. From this point, he triggers a cutscene and pauses midway through to tell the software to open an automatic save from the branch-only file. The game gets mixed up and generates a new game file that combines the states of the original two.
This creates fresh issues, however. The merged save file has a Link that never obtain the capability to access sacred places. Fortunately, this is an issue that the save glitch addresses readily, but pulling it off means depending on an buggy version of the game that refuses to open certain locations. As with other obstacles, he has a clever solution for it: He begins Tears of the Kingdom on its pre-release 1.0 build, and then updates the game partway through to make sure it starts functioning correctly.
Overcoming Weapon Wear and Other Hurdles
Interestingly, the prologue form of Link is coded so that he cannot break any tools he wields, likely to prevent a situation where the player gets trapped at the beginning of the adventure. But that's also how the streamer bypasses the durability issue, as the character he pulls across dimensions is the one from the beginning of the story. It's a clever technique, but not one that eliminates all potential difficulty. The stick is still a weak weapon that renders battles tedious. But at that stage, it's all a matter of determination and dedication. It further aids that there's a duplication glitch that grants him an plentiful supply of consumables to improve his strength, or accumulate on revival fairies. He also makes use of a glitch that allows him to phase through the environment. A few would find these methods reason to discredit the legitimacy of the attempt, but to my view, he's a resourceful gamer who is willing to do whatever it takes to engage his viewer. He also uses a safeguard of kinds stipulating that, for every spirit he employs, he'll ban a fan from his Twitch chat, establishing an motivation to avoid depend too much on them.
Boss Fights and the Final Showdown
The streamer succeeds to defeat many of Tears of the Kingdom's bosses, but the fights look painful. The YouTube version of his quest spares the audience endure the whole conflicts, which is a blessing when a few of them last several long hours. One boss fight, a powerful foe, takes an incredible 23 straight. The Ganondorf showdown, which depletes Link's hearts as it unfolds, is a memorable nail-biter. The indestructible branch is after all just a stick. He can't always clone items during the battle.
Did he succeed? Technically, he manages to defeat the beast form of Ganon. But the game compels the player to use the Master Sword as the final attack, so technically, it's not quite fully a stick-only run. But where's the challenge in that?
In the end, the streamer banned more than 1,000 people in his Twitch chat. RIP.
