Gameboy sequencers, Nanoloop, etc.

Has anyone here actually learned the wordless alien-culture interface on Nanoloop? Is it worth it? Are there any other Gameboy sequencers or alternate 8-bit contraptions to look into? I was feeling inclined to play around with something like this, but Nanoloop in particular looked like a whole lot of learning time for what would, in the end, still be "playing around."

Alternately: suggest any cheapy sequencer thingamabobs that might be fun to play with. Thus far I haven't found anything that I like to work with anywhere near as much as the Reason step-sequencer devices, and I feel like it might be productive to mess with something else for a change.