Starman apparently now provides invincibility from both Goombas and a crumbling economy. Power up!

In the midst of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, Nintendo sold a staggering 800,000 Wii consoles in the United States during the month of October.

It was the best month for Wii sales since December 2007 and a sizable jump over September’s 687,000.

The nearest competitor, Microsoft sold 371,000 Xbox 360 consoles, less than half Nintendo’s total. According to NPD analyst Anita Frazier, the impressive jump in Wii sales can be attributed to a greater supply of hardware in stores.

Sony’s PlayStation 3 fared worst among home consoles, selling only 136,000 units for the month, less than half of Microsoft’s total.

Nintendo DS was second only to big-brother Wii in October with 491,000 units sold, more than twice Sony’s 193,000 PSP sales.

Americans spent a total of $494.74 million on video game hardware last month, a 5 percent increase over last October. Americans have spent $4.72 billion in 2008, a 14 percent improvement over 2007.