Twitch Star Spends 37 Straight Attempting to Conquer <em>The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a Single Branch

One could think that after two years since Tears of the Kingdom debuted, enthusiasts would have run out of creative challenge runs that apply unique restrictions on a playthrough. Yet, although many players have attempted to finish the game with only a wooden stick, content creator PointCrow holds the record as the individual who aimed to beat the adventure with a single branch—specifically, the very same stick throughout.

The streamer is famous for these kinds of challenge runs, such as the instance he played the game using only explosives or the effort where he aimed to defeat the game with no energy. A single stick playthrough, however, seems impossible at face value. There's the game's introduction, which requires the hero to use the legendary blade. Additionally, there's the whole durability system, which is particularly relevant when working with the most fragile weapon in the whole game. But if the stick shatters, that's it. It's over.

The Method Behind the Madness

How did he do it? The simple answer is exploits. The complete story, believe it or not, is alternate dimensions. It turns out, you can manipulate Tears of the Kingdom's save file system to have separate game sessions that affect one another. So the creator does a “setup” save where he advances standardly, and the actual save, where he's restricted. The setup file has him completing the intro and initial starting area, and this character gains maximum endurance and health. From here, he triggers a cutscene and pauses partway through to tell the game to load an automatic save from the stick file. The system gets confused and creates a new save file that combines the states of the original two.

This causes new problems, however. The fused file has a Link that never obtain the ability to enter sacred places. Fortunately, this is an issue that the save glitch addresses easily, but executing it means relying on an buggy version of the title that refuses to load certain areas. As with other obstacles, he has a clever workaround for it: He starts the game on its early 1.0 build, and then patches the software partway through to make sure it begins functioning correctly.

Bypassing Weapon Wear and Other Challenges

Interestingly, the introductory form of Link is programmed so that he is unable to damage any weapons he uses, presumably to prevent a situation where the player gets trapped at the start of the adventure. But that's additionally how the streamer gets around the wear issue, as the Link he transfers across dimensions is the one from the beginning of the story. It's a smart trick, but not one that eliminates all possible difficulty. The stick is nonetheless a weak weapon that makes encounters tedious. But at that point, it's all a matter of grit and dedication. It further helps that there's a duplication glitch that gives him an plentiful supply of consumables to improve his strength, or accumulate on healing spirits. He additionally makes use of a bug that allows Link to clip through the world. Some would find these methods grounds to question the legitimacy of the attempt, but in my mind, he's a inventive player who is ready to do whatever it takes to entertain his viewer. He further implements a safeguard of sorts stating that, for each fairy he uses, he'll ban a fan from his Twitch chat, creating an motivation to avoid depend too much on them.

Major Battles and the Final Encounter

The streamer manages to get through several of the game's main enemies, but the battles appear grueling. The YouTube version of his journey doesn't make the viewer sit through the whole conflicts, which is a blessing when some of them last multiple hours. One enemy encounter, a powerful foe, requires an astonishing 23 hours. The Ganondorf showdown, which erases the hero's health as it progresses, is a memorable nail-biter. The unbreakable branch is after all only a piece of wood. He can't always clone objects midway the battle.

So, is it possible? Technically, he does overcome the beast form of the antagonist. But the software forces the player to use the legendary weapon as the last attack, so technically, it's not quite completely a stick-only run. But where's the challenge in that?

In the end, the streamer removed more than a thousand people in his live stream. RIP.