This is another one of the main things I see as people's reasons. People don't say this up front, but this is a primary reason for people saying they are overrated. People will always hold their first Zelda game in high regard, and when everyone likes a different game, they will nitpick the game and call it overrated. In the case of Ocarina of Time, it competes for GOAT, so it's not just Zelda fans that do it. 

I don't know but it seems people have forgotten the annoying time constraints.

Here you go, dealing with Spirit Tracks, Minish Cap and Phantom Hourglass: http://www.ign.com/tournaments/greatest-zelda-game

Majora's Mask is and was muchhhhhhhhhhh harder for casual players to get into because of the time limits in the beginning, restarting day. its a more complicated game (which can be good) than Ocarina of Time, so I think when it came out its reception was mixed in terms of people expecting Ocarina # 2.  

obviously over the years plenty of people have probably revisited it and ended up really digging and enjoying it so. this is one of those games where that really helps because, like I say, at the time when you might be expecting something different its easy to be judgemental

nah

doesn't explain it

Ocarina of Time, for example, was heralded as amazing and great quality from the get-go, it's inception, as soon as it came out. Majora's Mask did not have nearly the same following immediately that Ocarina had. I think you're off base to connect it to nostalgia in this case

But now you are taking data from 2011, well after Majora's surge in popularity had begun. I know because I remember people rambling on about how great it was during the lead up to Skyward Sword's release, talking about how Skyloft should be like Termina.

Oh so I guess no example is valid? Ok then.

Good find. I oughta use this in the myIGN tournaments. 

You posted a poll from ten years ago to prove that Majora's Mask was equally popular a long time ago as it is now. That poll showed it losing handily to A Link to the Past. Then you posted a poll from four years ago, which shows it just barely beating the same game. You have proven yourself wrong. Majora's Mask is more popular now than it was ten years ago, despite six new Zelda games being released in that time.

By the way, the only games it beat in the poll results ten years ago were Zelda II, Link's Awakening, the two Oracles, Four Swords, and Four Swords Adventures. You can see from the second poll you posted how little people care about those games, even though Link's Awakening also has a small but vocal fanbase.

It's the Zelda cycle. When the game comes out everybody criticizes it but then ten years later everybody says that they love it and that it's the best one.