Ptoing, I think most classic gamers would say that Zelda and the like are in "three quarter view", that is, not seen straight from the top down, but from an angle of about 3/4 of a straight angle (67.5°) away from the ground. The fact that the head looks bigger than the body could be explained by the depth-perspective effect (although it's technically drawn incorrectly in most of those games, as you remarked.)