The cheat of the hero is not save scumming, it's unlimited lives or continues...
But I guess only old and retro gamers know about the concept of a limited number of lives/continues now that every game has a easy mode save everywhere&everytime you want.
Simply cutting the hero's arms and legs off, and drip feeding him to make sure he doesn't die of hunger would be enough to solve the hero problem easily (or even damage his brain to make him a vegetable if you really want to be sure).