Yeah yeah, SS. I'll look for the best non-SS relationships.
Haven't played it, but I think in tMC, Link and Zelda are childhood friends. But I don't know how far that is taken, soo...
Also haven't played it, but in ST, because Zelda is Link's partner, I suppose that would make for some good development. If they actually make the fullest of this, again, I don't know.
However, the best non-SS Zelda-Link relationship I've seen so far is WW. This is interesting. Not because she starts off as Tetra, but just because their relationship is simply better than three certain others I will get to in a bit. This is because Link and... Telda? Zetra? Uhh... Well, they have more interaction than in the others.This begins when Link rescues Tetra in the forest on Outset, and when Tetra takes Link to the Forbidden Fortress. So right off the bat, they kind of owe each other. This is great because they aren't just helping each other out for no reason. Well, Link kind of goes to rescue Tetra and she didn't do anything for him, but... I don't suppose the most interesting of things happen on that island often...
They see each other again when they make a competition for who gets to the treasure in Outset. And later, and I suppose this is because they have gone through enough together for a friendship to have built up between them, Tetra helps Link rescue his sister. Not to mention she also saves his butt from getting handed over to him by Ganondorf.
So then, Tetra goes through the whole Zelda thing, and honestly... I didn't care for this all that much. I didn't find it very interesting or even relevant that Tetra was Zelda all along. But whatever, this is about the relationship, and so Link saves her from Ganondorf. Finally, they take down Ganon together. I really like this because they go through a lot together, moreso than in the others, and their friendship is actually built up in the game's events, not just before it all, like in SS. Just the relationship isn't as strong.
Then come the three I don't care for. ALttP's, OoT's, and TP's. These three are all very similar: You meet Zelda near the beginning of the game, you don't talk to her much for a bit. Then suddenly, somewhere in the middle (actually after the first three main dungeons), something happens to her. In ALttP, she is, uh... Agahnim-ized (in my defense, I really don't remember what happens...). In OoT, she escapes the castle with Impa, and Ganondorf starts on her trail. In TP, she sacrifices her own life to save Midna's. I kind of don't care for this all that much because Link has only seen her, I think, once (that is, unless you actually go back to talk to her manually, and even then, nothing of true importance happens). So, because Zelda and Link's relationship isn't built up enough, you really don't care all that much when whatever happens to her.
I feel OoT had the best of these, where Zelda is a rather likeable character, and you kind of want to support her. It's like, I don't want to, buuut I'll make this an exception. In ALttP, she doesn't have all that much personality, so I kind of don't care. And in TP, sure, it's honorable to save Midna like that, but still, does that build the relationship between her and Link? no
So then, screw the Zeldas in TP and ALttP. But again, the relationship is much better in OoT, where you actually talk to her several times throughout the game... okay, most of those were Sheik, but whatever.