Streaming Personality Spends 37 Straight Trying to Conquer <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a One Branch

You might assume that two years post-launch since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom arrived, enthusiasts would have run out of novel self-imposed challenges that impose special rules on a playthrough. Yet, although many gamers have tried to finish the game using only a stick, streamer the streamer holds the record as the individual who aimed to beat the adventure with a single branch—specifically, the very same one throughout.

PointCrow is renowned for such difficult playthroughs, such as the instance he went through the title using only explosives or the effort where he aimed to defeat the story with zero energy. A single stick playthrough, though, seems unfeasible at first glance. There's the game's introduction, which requires the hero to wield the Master Sword. Additionally, there's the whole weapon wear system, which is especially relevant when dealing with the weakest tool in the whole world. But if the stick breaks, that's it. It's over.

The Method Behind the Madness

So, how? The straightforward explanation is exploits. The full story, believe it or not, is parallel universes. Apparently, you can manipulate Tears of the Kingdom's save file system to have separate game sessions that impact one another. So the creator creates a “preparation” file where he progresses normally, and the real save, where he's restricted. The preparatory save has him completing the intro and initial starting area, and this Link gains full endurance and hearts. From this point, he triggers a cutscene and pauses partway through to instruct the game to load an automatic save from the stick file. The system gets confused and creates a new game file that combines the states of the first two files.

That causes fresh problems, however. The fused file has a Link that never acquired the capability to access sacred places. Luckily, this is an issue that the save glitch fixes easily, but pulling it off means depending on an buggy version of the title that refuses to open certain locations. Like other obstacles, he has a technical solution for it: He begins the game on its pre-release version 1.0, and then updates the game partway through to ensure it begins functioning correctly.

Overcoming Weapon Wear and Other Hurdles

Interestingly, the prologue form of the hero is programmed so that he is unable to damage any tools he wields, presumably to prevent a scenario where the user gets stuck at the start of the adventure. But that's also how the streamer gets around the durability issue, as the character he transfers between universes is the version from the beginning of the game. It's a smart trick, but not one that eradicates all potential friction. The branch is still a weak item that renders encounters onerous. But at that stage, it's all a question of grit and dedication. It further helps that there's a copying exploit that gives him an plentiful supply of items to improve his strength, or stock up on revival fairies. He additionally employs a glitch that enables him to phase through the world. A few would consider these methods reason to question the legitimacy of the run, but to my view, he's a resourceful gamer who is willing to do anything necessary to engage his audience. He also uses a safeguard of kinds stating that, for each fairy he employs, he'll remove one viewer from his live stream, creating an incentive to not depend too much on them.

Boss Fights and the Last Encounter

PointCrow succeeds to defeat several of Tears of the Kingdom's main enemies, but the fights appear painful. The YouTube version of his journey doesn't make the viewer sit through the whole conflicts, which is a blessing when a few of them last several long hours. One enemy encounter, a powerful foe, takes an incredible 23 hours. The final villain showdown, which erases Link's hearts as it unfolds, is a notable tense moment. The indestructible branch is after all only a piece of wood. He is unable to always clone objects during the fight.

Did he succeed? In a matter of speaking, PointCrow does overcome the dragon version of Ganon. But the game forces the player to wield the Master Sword as the final strike, so strictly speaking, it's not fully a stick-only playthrough. But what fun is that?

When everything is said and done, the streamer banned more than a thousand users in his live stream. Rest in peace.