I see this all the time and I don't understand it...

If the general comsensus is that OoT is overrated, then obviously it's not overrated...

Regarding MM, I wasn't a huge fan when I first played it...

I picked it up again nine years later and found it to be brilliant...

The big fanbase for MM has actually been around for while. I'd say I started really noticing it shortly after Twilight Princess' release when the fanbase started complaining about Zelda getting stale. It seems like that's when the huge appreciation for MM emerged due to how different it was and still is in the series. So yeah, I recall it being a thing online since at least '07, and it's only grown since.

After beating MM and OoT i asked for myself: why i like a zelda game? in which parts i spend more time and enjoying the experience? exploration, rewarding side quests, trying to get 100%. In this aspect, MM is far better than OoT.

And also, is awesome to play as a goron and zora. getting mask one by one, finding out what they do, the best sidequests ever, the spooky mood, with the all ikana passage, ghost aliens robbing cows, a man turning zombie alive, all the expressivity of the sadness of some characters when something bad happens and the best aspect: you can turn back in time and change your actions and change the destiny of the world.
Sorry OoT, but i like majoras more. since when i played it.

I haven't noticed a change. I've always LOVED this game. So effing awesome!

It is because everybody really knows that is the far superior N64 Legend of Zelda game, but nostalgia has a bigger effect when people talk about Ocarina.

It's very similar to the whole Final Fantasy VII to Final Fantasy IX thing.

Come at me.

Zelda cycle. I do believe its TP turn next.

As Rol said, Majora's Mask was known as Zelda Gaiden. Originally, it was an expansion from Ocarina of Time were you have to use the masks presented in the game. There was another expansion called Zelda Ura.

For development times, Zelda Gaiden becames Majora's Mask, a standalone entry, but improving only the grahics of Ocarina of Time. Zelda Ura never released.

It is already.

People started appreciating it more after the more recent installments like Phantom Hourglass, Spirit Tracks and Skyward Sword, which were all disappointments.

Also the re-releases of TOOT and MM on the Wii VC and 3DS gave new interest to these games, especially MM which was overlooked when it was first released late in the N64's life.