Originally Posted by SePhO_zO
Zelda is considered an Action/RPG or Action Adventure game depending on who you talk to. The fact that there's no experience system or form of character development, stat-wise, is reason some won't consider it an RPG. I think the fact that it has HP and and MP (in the form of hearts and a magic meter, respectively) is reason enough to consider it an RPG.
The battles, instead of fought by means of a turn-based system, are in real time, putting it in the Action/RPG subgenre. Turn-based RPGs are generally thought of to be "traditional" RPGs.