As gaming content on YouTube becomes more popular, so to do the elaborate challenges YouTubers force upon themselves to make a game more exciting. When speedrunning a game isn’t enough, players think up creative new ways to make a game more difficult, sometimes to the point of being unbeatable. Things like beating a Mario game without collecting a single coin or beating a Pokémon game without using a single item or visiting the Pokémon Center have become commonplace for gamers on YouTube to try and take on. YouTuber Sovern Gaming created his own unique challenge for Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga: can he beat the game without collecting a single stud?
For those familiar with the Lego video game series, this sounds like an impossible task. Studs are basically the currency of the Lego games. They are littered throughout every level and can be used to buy characters and other extras. There are thousands of studs that can be found in every level, so much so that the stud counter tops out at four billion. Studs are also almost unavoidable. Between building objects, opening doors, or flipping switches, players are rewarded with studs for even the slightest things in the game. Studs have a sort of magnetism as well, so if a player gets close enough, they’ll automatically collect the studs. Players can even pick up studs from just spawning into a room. Trying to beat Lego Star Wars: TCS without collecting a single stud sounds almost impossible.
To help himself out a bit, Sovern Gaming gave himself some rules to follow. He defined collecting a stud as stepping close enough to a stud to collect it and trigger the collection sound effect. This way, if the sound effect is triggered, but he manages to spawn into another area before the stud is actually collected, it still counts as collecting the stud. It also means any stud that is randomly collected automatically without contact, as the game will sometimes do, does not count. These rules help create a sort of guidelines for the play through, but it doesn’t make the task any easier.
It’s Impossible To Beat Lego Star Wars: TCS Without Collecting A Single Stud
![Can Lego Star Wars Players Avoid EVERY Stud](https://static1.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/pzae5aoljj0z.png)
Although Sovern Gamer goes into the challenge with high hopes, they are quickly dashed. After just the first chapter of Story Mode, he runs into a section that is unbeatable without collecting a couple studs. This proves that it’s impossible to beat the game without touching a single stud. He then changes the challenge to see what’s the minimum amount of studs necessary to beat the game. It was exceedingly difficult, but after all six chapters of the game, he managed to collect only 212 studs, 98 studs in the prequel trilogy and 114 in the original trilogy. That might sound like a lot, but it’s actually very impressive.
After beating the Story Mode, Sovern Gamer decided to give the challenge a try in Free Play, which allows for much more creativity. He realized the challenge was still impossible, but he wanted to see how much of a difference he could make in Free Play, and it was huge. Thanks to the ability to switch between more useful LEGO Star Wars characters, and some helpful bugs in the game, Sovern Gamer managed to collect only 31 studs in his Free Play play through, 12 in the prequels and 19 in the original trilogy. Thats a 181 stud difference between the Story Mode and Free Play. Check out the full video here:
Sovern Gamer noted that he is only so good of a gamer, so 31 studs are the fewest he was able to collect, that doesn’t mean it’s the definitive fewest studs necessary for completing the game. The challenge is still open. LEGO fans itching for a challenge should find a copy of LEGO Star Wars: TCS and see if they’ve got what it takes to top 212 studs in Story Mode or 31 studs in Free Play.