Twitch Star Spends Thirty-Seven Hours Attempting to Conquer <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em> With Only a One Branch

You might assume that two years post-launch since Tears of the Kingdom debuted, enthusiasts would have run out of creative challenge runs that apply special rules on a playthrough. However, while numerous players have attempted to finish Tears of the Kingdom using only a wooden stick, streamer PointCrow holds the record as the individual who endeavored to clear the adventure with a single branch—meaning, the exact same one from start to finish.

The streamer is famous for these kinds of difficult playthroughs, like the time he went through the game using only bombs or the attempt where he aimed to defeat the game with zero energy. A single stick run, though, sounds unfeasible at first glance. There's the opening sequence, which requires the hero to use the legendary blade. Then, there's the entire durability system, which is especially relevant when dealing with the weakest weapon in the entire game. But if the stick shatters, that's the end. It's over.

So, How?

How did he do it? The simple explanation is exploits. The full story, I kid you not, is parallel universes. It turns out, you can tweak Tears of the Kingdom's saving mechanism to have separate game sessions that impact one another. So PointCrow does a “preparation” save where he advances standardly, and the real save, where he's limited. The setup file has him completing the prologue and initial starting area, and this character acquires maximum endurance and hearts. From here, he triggers a cutscene and halts midway through to tell the software to open an auto-save from the stick file. The game gets mixed up and generates a third game file that merges the conditions of the original two.

This causes new problems, however. The merged save file has a protagonist that did not obtain the capability to access shrines. Luckily, this is something that the save glitch fixes readily, but executing it means relying on an buggy version of the title that refuses to open certain locations. Like everything else, he has a technical workaround for it: He begins Tears of the Kingdom on its pre-release 1.0 build, and then patches the software partway through to make sure it starts working properly.

Overcoming Weapon Wear and Other Challenges

Interestingly, the introductory version of Link is coded so that he is unable to break any weapons he uses, presumably to avoid a scenario where the player gets stuck at the beginning of the adventure. But that's also how the streamer gets around the durability issue, as the Link he pulls across dimensions is the version from the beginning of the story. It's a smart technique, but not a method that eliminates all possible friction. The stick is still a ineffective item that renders encounters tedious. But at that point, it's all a question of determination and perseverance. It also helps that there's a duplication glitch that grants him an abundant supply of consumables to boost his attack, or stock up on revival fairies. He also makes use of a glitch that enables him to clip through the environment. A few would consider these methods reason to question the validity of the attempt, but in my mind, he's a resourceful player who is ready to do anything necessary to engage his viewer. He also implements a penalty of sorts stating that, for every fairy he employs, he'll ban a viewer from his Twitch chat, establishing an motivation to avoid depend too much on them.

Major Battles and the Final Showdown

PointCrow succeeds to defeat many of Tears of the Kingdom's bosses, but the battles appear painful. The video version of his journey doesn't make the audience sit through the entire fights, which is a good thing when a few of them last several long hours. A particular enemy encounter, Queen Gibdo, takes an astonishing 23 straight. The Ganondorf showdown, which depletes the hero's hearts as it unfolds, is a notable nail-biter. The indestructible branch is still only a piece of wood. He is unable to always duplicate objects midway the battle.

So, is it possible? In a matter of speaking, he does defeat the beast form of Ganon. But the software compels the player to use the legendary weapon as the last strike, so technically, it's not fully a stick-only run. But where's the challenge in that?

When everything is said and done, PointCrow banned over a thousand users in his Twitch chat. Rest in peace.