Grand World Map

The Grand World Map is a large map that displays all seven Worlds from Super Mario Galaxy 2. It is first shown to Mario by Lubba at the beginning of the game. When accessed, it will allow Starship Mario to travel to any of the seven worlds (once unlocked of course) in the same way as it would travel to different galaxies within a World, though much more quickly. For example, Starship Mario could travel from World 1 to World 2 via a direct line between the two, as opposed to being forced to travel past every galaxy found in World 1 to reach the portal leading to World 2. It can be accessed at any point in the game (only while in a World though) by pressing down on the D-Pad on the Wii Remote, or by simply pressing the "Zoom Out" button found at the top right of the screen.

When Starship Mario is positioned directly over a World, the name of the World will appear in the top left corner of the screen, and a small rectangular box will appear on the bottom of the screen. In this box will be displayed all galaxies that have currently been unlocked for that particular World, along with any special status conditions for the galaxies, such as the icons for Prankster Comets, Jibberjay races, The Chimp challenges, Gearmo assistance, or simply a recently unlocked galaxy which will be marked as "New." Any galaxies which have not been unlocked yet will be indicated by a small dot in the place of its revolving galaxy icon until such time as the galaxy is unlocked.

If the player wishes to return to an individual World at any time, they can either press up on the Wii Remote's D-Pad while over the World they wish to go to, or use the Star Cursor hand to select the World they wish to visit and click it. Note that Starship Mario will be positioned at the same point in a World if it reenters the same World from which it originally accessed the Grand World Map. Otherwise, Starship Mario will always be placed at the beginning of the next World that is entered.

Worlds Found on the Grand World Map

 * World 1: The Great Space Journey Begins
 * World 2: Shooting Through the Stars
 * World 3: The Far Reaches of the Universe
 * World 4: The Many Mysteries of the Cosmos
 * World 5: Trial of the Galaxies
 * World 6: Bowser in Your Sights
 * World S: Here We Go! (Bonus World)

Trivia

 * When Mario takes the wheel of Starship Mario for the first time after the game has been turned on, he will automatically be positioned at the last World that Starship Mario was at before quitting the game, and will immediately be taken to the Grand World Map instead of the map for that particular World.
 * Even though there are only seven Worlds found on the Grand World Map, part of what appears to be three larger circles can faintly be seen extending through World 2, World 3, and World 4, perhaps suggesting that the Grand World Map is actually larger than it seems.