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

You might assume that after two years since Tears of the Kingdom arrived, enthusiasts would have run out of novel self-imposed challenges that impose special restrictions on a playthrough. Yet, although numerous players have attempted to complete the game with just a wooden stick, content creator PointCrow stands out as the individual who aimed to clear the game with a single stick—meaning, the exact same one from start to finish.

PointCrow is renowned for these kinds of challenge runs, such as the time he went through the game solely with bombs or the effort where he tried to defeat the game with no stamina. A single stick playthrough, though, sounds impossible at face value. There's the opening sequence, which requires the hero to use the Master Sword. Additionally, there's the whole weapon wear mechanic, which is particularly important when dealing with the weakest tool in the entire game. Yet if the stick shatters, that's the end. It's over.

So, How?

How did he do it? The simple explanation is glitches. The full story, believe it or not, is alternate dimensions. Apparently, you can tweak Tears of the Kingdom's save file system to have separate game sessions that impact one another. So the creator creates a “preparation” save where he progresses standardly, and the real file, where he's restricted. The setup save has him completing the prologue and initial tutorial island, and this Link gains maximum stamina and health. From here, he starts a cutscene and halts partway through to tell the game to load an automatic save from the stick file. The system gets confused and generates a third save file that merges the states of the first two files.

This causes new issues, though. The fused file has a Link that never obtain the capability to enter shrines. Luckily, this is something that the file exploit fixes easily, but executing it means relying on an buggy build of the title that fails to open some areas. As with other obstacles, he has a clever workaround for it: He begins the game on its early 1.0 build, and then updates the software midway through to ensure it begins functioning correctly.

Overcoming Weapon Wear and Additional Hurdles

Interestingly, the prologue version of the hero is programmed so that he cannot break any weapons he uses, likely to prevent a scenario where the player gets trapped at the beginning of the adventure. But that's additionally how PointCrow gets around the wear issue, as the Link he pulls between dimensions is the one from the start of the game. It's a smart technique, but not one that eradicates all potential difficulty. The stick is still a ineffective weapon that makes encounters onerous. But at that point, it's all a question of grit and perseverance. It also aids that there's a copying exploit that grants him an plentiful supply of items to boost his attack, or accumulate on healing spirits. He also makes use of a bug that enables Link to clip through the environment. A few would find these means grounds to question the legitimacy of the attempt, but in my mind, he's a resourceful player who is willing to do whatever it takes to entertain his viewer. He also implements a penalty of kinds stipulating that, for each spirit he uses, he'll ban a viewer from his live stream, creating an incentive to not overly rely on them.

Boss Fights and the Last Encounter

PointCrow manages to get through many of Tears of the Kingdom's bosses, but the fights look painful. The YouTube edit of his journey doesn't make the viewer endure the entire conflicts, which is a blessing when some of them last several long hours. One enemy encounter, Queen Gibdo, takes an astonishing twenty-three straight. The final villain battle, which depletes the hero's health as it progresses, is a memorable tense moment. The unbreakable stick is after all only a piece of wood. He can't necessarily duplicate items midway the fight.

Did he succeed? In a matter of speaking, PointCrow does defeat the dragon version of Ganon. But the software compels the player to use the Master Sword as the final strike, so strictly speaking, it's not quite fully a branch-exclusive playthrough. But what fun is that?

In the end, PointCrow removed over a thousand users in his live stream. Rest in peace.