Life after Zelda

[J T]

As was said earlier,

Okami

Okami

Okami.

Okami will be the most like Ocarina of Time.


I also like starbilly's advice of adding in star tropics and crystalis for some more old skool NES zelda feel.

Secret of Mana and Illusion of Gaia are both good choices for the SNES era of Zelda.

I'm not quite sure why so many people are recommending Beyond Good and Evil and Psychonauts. They are both great games, but they have a very different feel (especially thematically) from Zelda in my opinion.

[MrPopo]

I'll second the Crystalis nomination. It has less puzzles than Zelda, but has a much smoother combat engine. And it's more maze-based.

[fast]

So the list looks like this - though I am very hesitant to put games like Metroid and DMC since they are really nothing like your standard Zelda title:
Adventures of Lolo series – NES - More Puzzles
Alundra – PSX
Beyond Good and Evil – Cube, Xbox, PS2, PC
Beyond Oasis/The Story of Thor series – Genesis/Megadrive
Bomberman Quest - GBC
Bomberman Tournament - GBA
Crusader of Centy – Genesis/Megadrive
Crystalis – NES
Devil May Cry series – PS2
Faria: A World of Mystery and Danger – NES
Golden Axe Warrior – SMS
Ico – PS2
Illusion of Gaia - SNES
Landstalker – Genesis
Legend of Oasis – Saturn
Metroid series – NES, SNES, Cube, Wii - Heavy Exploration
Neutopia 1&2 – TG16/PCEngine
Okami – PS2/Wii
Prince of Persia Sands of Time – Cube, Xbox, PS2, PC
Psychonauts – Xbox, PS2, PC
Radia Senki - NES
Rygar – PS2
Secret of Mana – SNES
Seiken Psycho Calibur - NES
Shadow of Colossus – PS2
Star Fox Adventures – Cube
StarTropics series – NES
Sword of Mana/Final Fantasy Adventure – NES/GB
Willow – NES
Zelda Classic – PC

[J T]

Of those, I would focus your attention on these:

Crystalis – NES
Ico – PS2
Illusion of Gaia - SNES
Okami – PS2/Wii
Secret of Mana – SNES
Shadow of Colossus – PS2
StarTropics series – NES
Willow – NES

I'll also toss in Dark Cloud (PS2) and Secret of Evermore (SNES) as other good candidates.

However, I have not played these:

Alundra – PSX
Beyond Oasis/The Story of Thor series – Genesis/Megadrive
Crusader of Centy – Genesis/Megadrive
Landstalker – Genesis
Legend of Oasis – Saturn
Neutopia 1&2 – TG16/PCEngine
Radia Senki - NES
Star Fox Adventures – Cube
Sword of Mana/Final Fantasy Adventure – NES/GB
Zelda Classic – PC

[aaron]

man, shadow of the colossus is an amazing game, but i don't know if it's anything like zelda, really.

[elvis]

Thanks guys. There's a great list of titles I'll have to grab thanks to all the suggestions here.

have you played all the game boy zeldas? Minish Cap, Oracle of Seasons, Link's Awakening DX, and Oracle of ages are all awesome.

Yes, she's played, enjoyed and completed all of them. As per the first post, there's only two Zelda titles she's missed on any platform, and they were the two side-scrollers.

[RadarScope1]

I'm just going to give my thumbs up to several games already mentioned....

Okami - Definitely out-Zeldas Zelda in many respects. If she like the 3D Zeldas, certainly give this a try. It's a slow-burn at first, much like Twilight Princess, so give it several hours before passing judgment. The gorgeous art should hook you pretty quick, though.

Alundra - one of the best games inspired by top-down Zelda. If she liked LTTP, she has to give Alundra a go.

Secret of Mana - much more of a real RPG, so that might be a turn off, but then again if she does enjoy it, SoM could be a gateway drug into more traditional RPGs.

It has a very different aesthetic, but what about Legacy of Kain? It's a good top-down ARPG, but darker than Zelda.

[Anapan]

I was actually going to suggest Diablo 1 as an entry dungeon crawler, but remembered that this is a girl who needs a gaming fix, so zombies kinda don't appeal to them so much.

[Snickerd00dle]

its cool to see what people take from the zelda games based on what they recomend, shows that everyone likes different things about the same games, showing how amazing Zelda really is

[sakicfan84]

Of those, I would focus your attention on these:

Crystalis – NES
StarTropics series – NES
Willow – NES

If your wife enjoyed the original Zelda for the NES, she should really love these games. Crystalis is a more enjoyable game, and Willow is probably even better. Star Tropics can be frustrating (lots of hopping around, which can involve lots of dying), but it's a pretty fun ride too.

Glad to see Willow mentioned. That game is so unappreciated. I don't think there is a better game in that genre for the entire NES.