Can be on any console, personally I liked Golden Axe Warrior a lot, a great Master System Zelda clone.

StarTropics although I have yet to try Neutopia II.

If your talking modern day Zelda, I'd have to give it to Okami, that game feels quite close to Twilight Princess, but certainly isn't a "shameful" clone

I can see your point about some clones being shameful, for every great game there will be some company that will try to cash in on its success, just look at party titles on the wii, but some clones can actually be better than the original, and I would have to say I enjoyed Golden Axe Warrior more than Zelda 1, completed them both and can honestly say despite Zelda being my favorite video game franchise, that on the 8-bit systems it was outdone by GAW, other Zelda clones like Neutopia I wouldn't say where quite as good as Zelda, but still worth playing all the same, Shining Wisdom on the Saturn is an interesting Zelda, clone wouldn't quite put it on a par with A Link to the Past, but was still a great Saturn title, hopefully they will release GAW on the virtual console at some point, its a hugely overlooked game that not many people seem to have played, but if you are Zelda fan it definitely worth checking out.

Dark Cloud 2: Dark Chronicle for PS2 is an amazing game with similarities to Zelda if that counts.

Starfox Adventures for GCN is my favorite Zelda clone. It was also Rare's last good game (IMO.)
Nope, strike that: Okami is. Although technically the PS2 version came out before Twilight Princess because TP got delayed.

Neutopia (the first one) is my favorite of the 2D Zelda "clones" -- not really a fan of this term, which is almost always hyperbolic unless referring to old arcade games. I don't think I've played any other games except Star Tropics, sadly. I'd love to find more. I think of the 2D Zeldas and 3D Zeldas different series, and I really don't care for the 3D ones or similar games that much.

Starfox Adventures immediately comes to mind. I remember thinking the game was a Zelda game using Starfox characters back when I first played it. I was disappointed because it was nothing like a Starfox game yet I really enjoyed it because it played so much like a Zelda game. I really want to play that one now.

Okami>>>>>>>>>>>Twilight Princess

A game called Story of Thor 2 (Legend of Oasis in the US I believe?) on Sega Saturn was unbelievable - great music by Yuzo Koshiro, great hand-drawn animation and some really good puzzles and dungeons. To be honest, until I played more Zelda games I didn't realise it was actually a Zelda clone Shame I recently sold it on eBay, then...

Are you back in the UK Jimmy?

Okami is definitely my all-time favorite Zelda clone. Final Fantasy Adventure would be a close second.

Okami is close but for using the closest thing to a wind waker game engine...(sans cel-shading) Star Fox Adventures!
If that game ever got a seuqel and allowed the same combat and maybe even a dinosaur/Landmaster fusion I'd be happy!

Indeed I am - must catch you online next week so I can catch-up on all this new-fangled website business!

Okami OR Startropics!

@ VenomTheEvil
Great choices! I was going to say Okami and Startropics as well! I keep hearing that Beyond Oasis and Landstalker are very similar to Zelda as well. Would anyone else recommend either of these games and how do they compare to Zelda?

prosody you have to change your avatar, everytime I see it I ROFLMAO!

I heard StarFox Adventures wasn't orginally going to be based on the Starfox series and was to be a completely different series entirely (but Krystal was still a main character).

@Cheese - I'm the only one brave enough to show my real face on here... apart from Paper_StarFox. You should see his school photos.

Landstalker is excellent - developed by some of the team responsible for Shining Force, so you know it's good. It's showing its age a little now but the music is excellent, although the menus take a bit of getting used to. I bought it for Virtual Console but haven't had time to try it. Good game though.

Beyond Oasis is a good game but the sequel is substantially better, though also much harder to come by. Either game is definitely worth getting though!

Shining Wisdom.