Nintendo made people jump over 590 million times in its free Switch game

Nintendo's free Switch game Jump Rope Challenge released two weeks ago is a hit. The Japanese gaming company revealed in its latest shareholders meeting that it's recorded over 590 million registered jumps in the downloadable game.

Against all odds, Nintendo has once again prevailed in making people get off their butts to exercise. The free game available in the eShop was created by Nintendo developers stuck at home during the pandemic lockdown.

Real jumps or waggles? — Over 590 million jumps (collectively of course) is a ton of jumps. But how many of the game's recorded jumps were actual jumps? We'll never know. As we noted when the game dropped, you can jump or cheat. And by cheat, we mean rotate the Joy-Cons to fake a jump rope rotation. The "cheat" is by design; Nintendo said it allowed waggle as a courtesy to neighbors and accessible input for people with disabilities who may not be able to jump.

At the end of the day, it doesn't matter if the jumps are real. Nintendo made an impossibly cute game that you really can't hate even if the game's not as deep as that other hit of lockdown, Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

Free until September — Jump Rope Challenge is free for a limited time until the "end of September." So if you want to get it, you've got three months to do it before it's gone forever.