Pay Tribute to the Greatest

[Angrist]

I guess it depends on what 'RPG' means to you. Is it literally a 'role playing game'? Then yes, Zelda is an rpg. You pretty much roleplay Link, who doesn't utter a word, but lets you, the player, do the talking.

But if you take it purely as a genre, Zelda is far from an RPG. It doesn't use xp, turn/time-based battles, party members, healing spells, etc. I don't think I'd even want to play Zelda if it were a real RPG. I love it because it's an action-adventure.