Streaming Personality Spends Thirty-Seven Straight Attempting to Beat <em>The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom</em> With Only a One Branch

You might assume that two years post-launch since Tears of the Kingdom arrived, enthusiasts would have run out of creative self-imposed challenges that impose special restrictions on a playthrough. However, although numerous players have attempted to finish Tears of the Kingdom using only a stick, streamer PointCrow holds the record as the player who endeavored to beat the adventure with a one branch—specifically, the very same one throughout.

PointCrow is famous for these kinds of difficult playthroughs, like the instance he went through the title using only explosives or the attempt where he tried to beat the game with no stamina. A one-branch playthrough, however, sounds unfeasible at face value. There's the opening sequence, which forces the hero to use the Master Sword. Additionally, there's the whole weapon wear system, which is especially relevant when dealing with the weakest tool in the entire world. But if the stick shatters, that's the end. It's over.

The Method Behind the Madness

So, how? The straightforward explanation is glitches. The full story, I kid you not, is alternate dimensions. It turns out, you can tweak Tears of the Kingdom's save file system to have separate game sessions that affect one another. So PointCrow creates a “setup” file where he advances standardly, and the actual file, where he's restricted. The setup save has him completing the intro and initial tutorial island, and this character gains maximum endurance and hearts. From this point, he triggers a cutscene and halts midway through to tell the software to open an automatic save from the stick file. The system gets confused and generates a third save file that combines the states of the original two.

This causes new problems, however. The fused file has a protagonist that never obtain the ability to enter shrines. Fortunately, this is something that the save glitch addresses readily, but executing it means depending on an unstable version of the title that refuses to load some areas. Like other obstacles, he has a technical workaround for it: He begins Tears of the Kingdom on its early version 1.0, and then patches the game midway through to ensure it begins functioning correctly.

Bypassing Durability and Other Challenges

Curiously, the introductory version of Link is coded so that he cannot damage any weapons he uses, likely to prevent a scenario where the user gets trapped at the beginning of the adventure. But that's also how the streamer bypasses the wear issue, as the Link he transfers across universes is the one from the start of the game. It's a clever technique, but not a method that eliminates all potential difficulty. The branch is still a weak item that makes battles onerous. But at that stage, it's all a question of determination and perseverance. It further helps that there's a copying exploit that grants him an plentiful supply of items to boost his strength, or stock up on revival fairies. He additionally makes use of a bug that allows Link to phase through the world. Some would find these means reason to question the validity of the attempt, but in my mind, he's a inventive player who is ready to do anything necessary to entertain his audience. He also uses a penalty of kinds stipulating that, for every spirit he uses, he'll ban a viewer from his Twitch chat, establishing an incentive to not depend too much on them.

Major Battles and the Last Showdown

PointCrow succeeds to get through several of Tears of the Kingdom's main enemies, but the battles look painful. The YouTube edit of his quest doesn't make the audience endure the entire conflicts, which is a good thing when a few of them take several hours. A particular boss fight, a powerful foe, requires an incredible 23 straight. The final villain battle, which depletes the hero's hearts as it progresses, is a memorable nail-biter. The indestructible branch is still just a stick. He is unable to always duplicate items during the battle.

So, is it possible? Technically, PointCrow manages to overcome the beast form of Ganon. But the software compels the user to wield the Master Sword as the last attack, so technically, it's not quite fully a stick-only playthrough. But where's the challenge in that?

In the end, the streamer banned over a thousand users in his Twitch chat. Rest in peace.