So I was killing some time the other day on my 3DS and decided to browse the E-Shop when I noticed they had an RPG section and I had a few credits left to my name. So I decided to explore a bit and see if anything caught my attention. Now, anyone who has ever browsed through categories on a Nintendo system will know they play loose on some of the category terms, RPGs kind of being one of the most egregious examples. Still, I was kind of thrown off by some of the titles appearing in their list and nearly had a conniption fit when Mario Tennis was suggested. This of course got me thinking because even when I browse Steam or PSN I'll find several titles I wouldn't consider to be an RPG coming up in the suggestions. I often find that most of these companies liken the term RPG to the same standard as Action-Adventure, which is basically the video game equivalent of the terminology Fiction.

This honestly shouldn't bother me, but the terminology of what an RPG actually is has been a long standing debate on this forum and the gaming community for many years, and it's a puzzle that I find myself coming back to from time to time. How do we actually define the genre and where do we draw the line? Are Visual Novels a sub-genre of RPGs? What about Zelda or the Metroidvania style Castlevania titles? Does it have to adhere strictly to the origin of paper-pencil games like D&D or should we take the term Role-Playing verbatim and thus all games where you play a character can be called an RPG?

How do you define the genre and what would you consider the definition to be?