Grand World Map

"With the power of the Grand Star, we can travel great distances across space and time."

- Lubba

The Grand World Map is a large and expansive map that displays all seven Worlds from Super Mario Galaxy 2. It is first shown to Mario by Lubba after World 2 has been unlocked 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. Although they are connected, the Worlds on the Grand World Map are not found in a straight line, and thus the lines between them causes the entire map to have a large zigzag shape. It can be accessed at any point in the game (only while in a World though) by pressing on the Wii Remote, or by simply pressing the "Zoom Out" button found at the top right of the screen.

One of the main differences between a World Map and the Grand World Map is that when using the Grand World Map, the player can actually see the World adjacent to the World that they are currently in (whether they can access it yet or not), which is impossible on a regular World Map. This becomes apparent when the player accesses the Grand World Map for the first time, as the player is in World 2 at this point, and can clearly see World 3 to the right, but cannot access it yet. This is due to the fact that, just like the pathways found in any of the Worlds, the pathways between Worlds on the Grand World Map originally start out as dotted blue lines which restrict the player's immediate access. As Mario progresses through the game and collects more Power Stars, the dotted blue lines gradually turn into solid yellow lines which allow Starship Mario to advance further.

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." The box will also display a crown icon if the galaxy has been fully completed, as well as a Comet Medal icon when the player has found that galaxy's Comet Medal. 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.

The galaxies that are displayed in the box are shown slightly differently from the way in which they are normally presented in a World. This is because, instead of being displayed in the order in which the galaxies were unlocked in that World, the galaxies are always displayed in accordance with the total number of Power Stars found in the galaxy (with the exception of the first and last galaxies encountered in a World, which by default remain in order no matter what). For instance, the four galaxies in any particular World which contain a total of six Power Stars are always the first four galaxies shown in the box, after which comes the two galaxies in the World which contain a total of four Power Stars, followed by the boss galaxy for that World.

However, this does not necessarily mean that the galaxies are completely out of order; though the four galaxies with six Power Stars are grouped together, they are still displayed in the order in which they were unlocked from left to right within their grouping. The same goes for the two galaxies in a World with four Power Stars total. Because the galaxies in the box are ordered as such, the box coincides with the Star List in Super Mario Galaxy 2, which displays Power Star information for galaxies in the same way. World S is the one exception to this rule, due to the fact that every galaxy in World S contains four Power Stars total, not including the Grandmaster Galaxy, which contains only two. Because of this, the galaxies in this World are still displayed in accordance with the total number of Power Stars, though incidentally, they are also displayed in the order that they were unlocked as well.

If the player wishes to return to an individual World at any time, they can either press on the Wii Remote 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, World 4, and World 5, perhaps suggesting that the Grand World Map is actually larger than it seems.
 * When the player accesses the Grand World Map, additional echoing sound effects will be added to the background of the music for the particular World that Starship Mario is in, until the player switches back to the regular World Map. This is similar to using the Pull Star in one of the domes onboard the Comet Observatory to view galaxies in Super Mario Galaxy, which would add echoing sound effects to the background music as well.
 * When the player accesses the Grand World Map from a particular World, the music for that World will continue to play even if the player positions Starship Mario above another World on the Grand World Map; it is only when the player actually enters another World that the music for that World will begin to play.