Streaming Star Spends Thirty-Seven Hours Attempting to Beat <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a Single Stick

You might assume that after two years since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom arrived, enthusiasts would have exhausted novel self-imposed challenges that impose unique restrictions on a gameplay session. However, although numerous players have attempted to complete the game with just a stick, content creator the streamer holds the record as the individual who endeavored to clear the game with a one branch—specifically, the very same one from start to finish.

The streamer is famous for such challenge runs, like the instance he played the title solely with bombs or the attempt where he tried to defeat the game with no stamina. A one-branch run, though, sounds unfeasible at face value. There's the game's introduction, which requires Link to use the Master Sword. Then, there's the entire weapon wear mechanic, which is especially important when working with the weakest tool in the entire world. Yet if the branch shatters, that's the end. It's over.

The Method Behind the Madness

So, how? The simple answer is exploits. The complete story, I kid you not, is parallel universes. It turns out, you can tweak the game's save file system to have distinct game sessions that affect one another. So the creator creates a “setup” file where he advances standardly, and the real file, where he's limited. The preparatory save has him completing the prologue and initial tutorial island, and this character acquires full endurance and health. From this point, he triggers a cutscene and halts midway through to instruct the software to open an automatic save from the branch-only file. The game gets confused and creates a new game file that merges the conditions of the original two.

This causes fresh problems, though. The fused save file has a Link that never obtain the capability to enter shrines. Luckily, this is something that the file exploit fixes readily, but executing it means relying on an buggy version of the game that refuses to open some areas. 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 updates the software midway through to ensure it starts functioning correctly.

Overcoming Weapon Wear and Additional Challenges

Interestingly, the introductory form of the hero is coded so that he cannot damage any tools he uses, presumably to avoid a scenario where the player gets trapped at the beginning of the adventure. But that's additionally how the streamer bypasses the durability problem, as the character he pulls across dimensions is the one from the start of the game. It's a clever technique, but not one that eliminates all possible friction. The stick is nonetheless a ineffective item that renders battles tedious. But at that point, it's entirely a question of determination and perseverance. It also aids that there's a duplication glitch that gives him an abundant number of consumables to improve his attack, or accumulate on revival fairies. He also employs a bug that enables Link to phase through the environment. A few would find these means grounds to discredit the legitimacy of the attempt, but to my view, he's a resourceful player who is willing to do anything necessary to engage his audience. He also implements a penalty of sorts stating that, for every spirit he employs, he'll ban one fan from his live stream, creating an motivation to not overly rely on them.

Boss Fights and the Last Encounter

The streamer manages to defeat several of Tears of the Kingdom's main enemies, but the fights appear painful. The video edit of his quest doesn't make the viewer sit through the whole conflicts, which is a blessing when some of them take multiple hours. A particular boss fight, a powerful foe, takes an incredible twenty-three hours. The Ganondorf showdown, which erases Link's hearts as it progresses, is a notable nail-biter. The indestructible branch is still just a stick. He can't always duplicate items during the battle.

Did he succeed? In a matter of speaking, he does overcome the beast form of Ganon. But the game compels the player to use the legendary weapon as the last attack, so strictly speaking, it's not quite completely a branch-exclusive playthrough. But what fun is that?

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