Puzzle Bobble Journey

Puzzle Bobble Journey (パズルボブルジャーニー Pazuru Boburu Jānī), also known as Bust-A-Move Journey in America, is a mobile game released in 2017 for Android and iOS. It was a successor to Bust-A-Move Islands / LINE Puzzle Bobble game, featuring similar graphics and gameplay elements, but the game was released as a premium app of the original game in 2017 outside of LINE.

According to Matthew Sholtz from Android Police, Taito Corporation consistently released premium games onto the Play Store while every other developer has decided to plunder the depths of our pockets with in-app purchase filled free-to-play games. But never in his most opulent dreams would he have expected a premium release from one of the best bubble popper franchises out there. With absolutely no notice Taito has just released this game on the Play Store and it's absolutely glorious. Also, he said this game isn't a newly developed game. If it appears familiar, that's because it was released under the name Bust-A-Move Islands as a freemium title by gumi Inc. Apparently, this freemium version did not do well as it was pulled from the Play Store.

Why It Sucks Now

 * 1) Since this game was re-released outside of LINE, it uses a digital rights management service that prevented the game to boot without internet connection, which it required your internet connection then you can boot to the game, every time you unlock new characters, many files are need to be downloaded.
 * 2) * Speaking of the characters, in order to unlock them, you have to go to the summon, then cost the coins to get the random new character, similar to loot boxes, but unlike Electronic Arts, the summon doesn't let you cost real money.
 * 3) As mentioned above, the game is no longer free, instead, it is a paid app, but fortunately, it costs only $5.49. Much like Arkanoid vs Space Invaders, which too was first released as a free-to-play title to then be re-released by mh:awesomegames:Square Enix as a premium game.
 * 4) The game has microtransactions: after the players completed the map 3, players will need to buy in-app purchases to unlock 9 maps (from map 4 to map 12), which it is confusing.
 * 5) * Again, as mentioned above, the game's maps were free back then, before this game.
 * 6) Most of the stages are exactly the same to the original game, it doesn't pose any challenge to the veterans of the series who are already played the original game.
 * 7) This is intended for the Android 4.4 or newer instead of 2.3, despite being the same game. (2.3 or newer for the original game)
 * 8) The game is a specification occurs on the game system.
 * 9) False advertising: The 1.0.1 version said the developer hope you continue to play this game in the future, but it didn't improve this game, yet still only 12 maps and 1110 stages.
 * 10) * But thankfully, unlike Puzzle Bobble Universe, which it has only 88 stages.
 * 11) The game's ending isn't very good, after you beat the game, it shows "Coming Soon", the Bubble Dragons still can't find Magic Bubbles, meaning Taito is currently creating more new stages, but obviously not, instead, they created a spin-off of the series with Touhou characters, titled Touhou Spell Bubble.
 * 12) If you get the game from the non-app store or for free, you can't buy in-app purchase maps, that makes it impossible to complete the game 100% because the maps can't be unlocked if you didn't buy this game. Which it says "This game doesn't support your device".
 * 13) The original game's discontinuation doesn't help Taito after the original game's failure in North America. However, this game is still a failure, with the 1.0.1 version is the currently final version. The game would no longer receive new updates after this, the developers dropped the game and worked to other projects.

Redeeming Qualities

 * 1) The IOS version's in-app purchases cost only $0.99 for a new map, meaning the maps in this version are very cheap.
 * 2) It's nice to see fans of Bust-A-Move can play this game again after the 2 years of the original game's North American server discontinuation.
 * 3) The graphics are still beautiful, and the designs for the characters are very cute.
 * 4) The music is unforgettable and memorable.
 * 5) It has many new characters from the original Korean version.

Reception
The game received a mixed-to-positive reception from the most of fans, however, it also received a negative reception from the veterans of the series, because most of fans have already played original version of the game, the game has a score of 3.5 on Google Play. The game became the final Puzzle Bobble / Bust-A-Move game officially released for the mobile devices (no counting Bust-A-Move RMT).