This series of posts by @sjl is a true gem worth bookmarking. It describes a CHIP-8 emulator in Common Lisp whose techniques are applicable to other systems.
But the series is also a Lisp software design resource in disguise, as it presents a Domain-Specific Language for concisely and clearly describing machine architectures and instruction sets.
@amoroso @sjl Paolo, can't agree more, it's exceptionally well written and presented.