Twitch Personality Dedicates 37 Straight Trying to Conquer <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em> With Only a One Branch

One could think that after two years since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom debuted, enthusiasts would have run out of novel challenge runs that apply special restrictions on a playthrough. Yet, while many gamers have attempted to finish the game with just a stick, streamer the streamer holds the record as the individual who aimed to beat the adventure with a single stick—specifically, the exact same stick throughout.

PointCrow is renowned for such challenge runs, like the time he played the game using only bombs or the effort where he tried to beat the game with zero energy. A single stick run, however, seems impossible at face value. There's the opening sequence, which requires the hero to wield the Master Sword. Additionally, there's the whole weapon wear mechanic, which is particularly important when dealing with the most fragile weapon in the whole world. But if the stick shatters, that's it. Game over.

The Method Behind the Madness

How did he do it? The straightforward explanation is glitches. The full answer, I kid you not, is alternate dimensions. Apparently, you can manipulate Tears of the Kingdom's saving mechanism to have separate game sessions that affect one another. So PointCrow creates a “setup” save where he advances normally, and the actual save, where he's restricted. The preparatory file has him going through the intro and first starting area, and this Link acquires full endurance and hearts. From here, he starts a cinematic and pauses midway through to tell the software to load an automatic save from the branch-only file. The system gets confused and generates a third save file that merges the conditions of the original two.

That creates fresh problems, though. The fused file has a Link that never obtain the ability to enter sacred places. Luckily, this is something that the file exploit fixes readily, but executing it means relying on an unstable build of the title that refuses to load certain locations. Like other obstacles, he has a technical workaround for it: He begins Tears of the Kingdom on its early version 1.0, and then updates the software midway through to ensure it starts functioning correctly.

Bypassing Durability and Additional Challenges

Curiously, the introductory form of the hero is programmed so that he is unable to damage any weapons he wields, presumably to avoid a scenario where the player gets trapped at the beginning of the adventure. But that's additionally how the streamer gets around the durability issue, as the Link he transfers across universes is the version from the beginning of the game. It's a smart technique, but not a method that eliminates all possible difficulty. The branch is nonetheless a ineffective weapon that makes battles tedious. But at that point, it's all a matter of grit and dedication. It also aids that there's a copying exploit that gives him an abundant supply of items to boost his strength, or accumulate on healing spirits. He additionally makes use of a bug that allows him to phase through the world. A few would find these means reason to question the validity of the run, but in my mind, he's a inventive gamer who is willing to do whatever it takes to entertain his audience. He also uses a penalty of kinds stating that, for each spirit he uses, he'll ban one viewer from his Twitch chat, creating an motivation to avoid depend too much on them.

Major Battles and the Final Showdown

The streamer succeeds to defeat many of the game's main enemies, but the battles appear grueling. The video edit of his journey spares the audience endure the entire conflicts, which is a good thing when a few of them take multiple hours. A particular boss fight, a powerful foe, requires an astonishing 23 straight. The final villain showdown, which erases Link's health as it progresses, is a notable nail-biter. The indestructible stick is after all just a stick. He is unable to always duplicate items midway the fight.

Did he succeed? Technically, PointCrow does defeat the beast form of Ganon. But the software compels the player to use the Master Sword as the last attack, so strictly speaking, it's not quite completely a branch-exclusive run. But what fun is that?

When everything is said and done, the streamer banned more than a thousand people in his Twitch chat. Rest in peace.