The Roots are the gift that keeps on giving. Their time on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon has given us many musical gifts, delivering nightly jam sessions with a wide variety of artists from across the musical spectrum. Herbie Hancock, Metallica, and Adele are just a few of the many examples of musicians who have spent time jamming with The Roots during their time on NBC’s classic late night show.
To their credit, The Roots have never shied away from playing music that’s outside of their box while on the show, and last night’s musical guest and performance may have cemented their spot as musical legends of late night. The Roots jammed with special guest, Shigeru Miyamoto, aka the creator of Nintendo‘s classic video game Super Mario. Miyamoto, who also created the popular gaming franchise Donkey Kong, The Legend of Zelda, Star Fox, and F-Zero for Nintendo, was on the show to promote the company’s new gaming system, the Switch.
Miyamoto joined The Roots for a rendition of the famous theme music from Mario, showing off his serious picking skills on acoustic guitar while the band recreated the familiar and bouncy music. Fallon himself makes an appearance during the performance, crossing the screen while hitting a yellow question mark box, with yellow coins popping out just like in the game.
See below for this fun musical performance by The Roots and Shigeru Miyamoto!