Traditional arcade game machines, the iconic cabinets found in malls and arcades, were not designed with modern, complex player-created achievement systems in mind. Their primary and most famous method of acknowledging player skill was the high score table. This system, stored on the machine's volatile RAM (Random Access Memory), was the original "achievement." Players would enter their initials after achieving a top score, creating a simple, competitive, and player-created legacy on that specific cabinet. The fundamental limitation was hardware; these machines were built with dedicated circuit boards and minimal memory, intended for short, repeatable gameplay sessions rather than persistent, personalized data tracking across a network.

However, the concept of player-created achievements existed in emergent ways. Players and communities created their own unofficial challenges, such as a "no-miss run" in a shooter or a "perfect" on a rhythm game. These were social achievements, validated by peers rather than the machine itself. The "achievement system" was the community's shared knowledge and the physical proof, sometimes a photograph of the screen or a witness.

With the advent of more modern arcade platforms, such as those from Sega (e.g., ALLS) and Bandai Namco (e.g., NESiCAxLive), the paradigm shifted. These systems often use networked card-based services, where a player's data is saved to a personal card or an online profile. This infrastructure allows for official, developer-created achievements and trophies, similar to home consoles. It creates a persistent record of a player's accomplishments across multiple machines and sessions.

For true player-created systems on older hardware, the only method is hardware modification. Enthusiasts can install mods or replacement PCBs that expand memory or add storage, allowing for more customized high score tables or even basic milestone tracking. In the emulation scene, software like MAME can simulate these conditions, allowing for the creation of save states at specific challenge points, effectively functioning as a user-defined checkpoint or achievement.

In summary, while classic arcade machines handled player-created achievements through the high score table and social contracts, modern arcade systems have embraced online profiles for official tracking. True, technical implementation of custom achievements on vintage hardware remains a niche field for dedicated hobbyists and modders.