Life after Zelda

[fastbilly1]

The Mana series are Zeldas with more RPG elements (sadly the third is only in fantranslation). But Crystalis and Startropics are really the two easiest parallels.

[Dave Auto]

A couple of Zelda clones in my backlog that I haven't gotten around to yet are Beyond Good & Evil (PS2/Xbox/GC) and Star Fox Adventures (GC). BG&E is a popular critic's darling (and my friends tell me it's shorter than Okami), but what I hear about SFA is the same stuff that many Rare games are taken to task for: it's technically competent but dull and uninspired.

From my personal experience, I'd recommend Tim Schafer' Psychonauts (Xbox/PS2). Though technically considered a platformer, it really has a lot more in common with Zelda than Mario: a large, interconnected overworld hub with "Zelda-dungeon"-like sublevels, item/ability acquisition, "Z-Targeting"-style ranged attacks. Really, the only thing that makes this a platformer is the jump button. Oh, and it's hilarious

Rygar (PS2/Wii) is an underappreciated favorite of mine, though it definitely leans more in the direction of action than Zelda-style "RPG-lite" elements, kinda like Devil May Cry.

[brickiemart]

I second Beyond Good and Evil, the main character is arguably the best female protagonist in video games. All the characters in that game rock, plus you can play the Gamecube version through the Wii. After Okami and Secret of Mana I'd say that is your best choice. A good 8-bit Zelda clone would be Golden Ax Warrior for the Sega Master System. And by clone I mean blatant, unapologetic rip-off; it's still fun though. The first Fable is Zelda-like in its gameplay. The main character is controlled like Link in a 3-d Zelda game. It deviates pretty far from the Zelda formula, less ethereal and more like a Western-RPG, but it has a great environment and good story, its worth checking out.

[Ivo]

The sequel to Beyond Oasis / The Story of Thor is called Legend of Oasis / The Story of Thor 2 depending on region. I haven't played it yet, but the Genesis one was rather good.

[RemyC]

If you want a Zelda experience, stay away from Fable. You have a big world with lots to do...but theirs really no reason to do any of it.
All the missions are extremely bland. "Kill these bad guys.", "now kill these bad guys but theirs more of them.", "Now kill these guys, but dont let the helpless traders die." (repeat for entire game). If you want to be the bad guy, then, replace 'bad guys', with 'good guys', and 'helpless traders' with, 'helpless farmers'.
You have a lot of enemies, but they never get entertaining. As you progress through the game, you fight the same enemies, just more of them, as you get stronger. An hour into the game and you will have done everything that you will ever do. The only real reason to keep playing is to see what new powers you'll get (which can be mildly amusing if you have a god complex, and just wanna run around the world massacring everything that glances at you).

Beyond good and Evil, is your best bet for a Zelda-esque experience.

[Lanfear]

Beyond good and Evil, is your best bet for a Zelda-esque experience.

Wrong. Okami is. Okami is like Zelda, almost to a fault.

Beyond Good and Evil is quite different but in the same vein.

[Ziggy]

Beyond Oasis for genesis. There was a Saturn sequel, don't remember the name though.

Legend of Oasis. It was a prequel by the way.

There was also Faria (link) on the NES.

[aaron]

yeah i was gonna say crusader of centy (there is no "the"). great game.

might have her try beyond oasis and legend of oasis.

[PGchris]

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

[Snickerd00dle]

Landstalker for Genesis would be similar to older zelda titles,
beyond good and evil is really fun
psychonauts is great
some current action adventure titles that might not have as much of the puzzle aspects but are similar to zelda titles
Prince of Persia sands of time
Devil May Cry series