The funny thing is that this game was born because Anouma told Miyamoto that he did not want to do Ocarina of Time DLC, which they were doing at the time, and Miyamoto challenged Anouma to come up with something different in the spawn of one year.

Probably my favourite 3D Zelda as well, right there with Wind Waker. :)

I bet the OoT team cringes a bit when they hear people say MM is better than it. OoT was their crowing achievement in gaming. MM was never meant to be more than a quick little diversion to tide people over until the next true Zelda (TWW). And that's all it is too if we take the rose colored glasses off.

What's that supposed to mean? Am I not supposed to like MM more than OoT? Because I do.

What I love the most about this game is the sadness when you complete a side quest ("Anju and Kafei" quest is the most remarkable). You help people with their problems, everyone's happy and then, suddenly, you have to play the "Song of Time". It's sad. It's like all the work you do to help them in the side quest is useless, because all Termina reboots in a second.

You're entitled to your opinion. All it means is that MM is not nearly the scope or depth of game OoT is in size, dungeons, plot, innovation, etc. It was never supposed to be. And that's not really up for debate.

You're right, Majora's Mask isn't some wild, epic, grand adventure that changed the face of gaming forever, but does that really make it a lesser game? I actually found that MM had a lot more depth in its mechanics than OoT did (and this is coming from someone who played them both for the first time within the span of 6 months). 

To write off MM as some project that the development team is likely ashamed of is incredibly immature and, quite frankly, doesn't make sense. They want each game to surpass the last in terms of quality. I don't think anyone over at Nintendo is like "Man, I really hope our new Zelda game isn't better than Ocarina of Time. That would be a joke." Seriously.

This is simple: Anouma came up with a game that rivalized Ocarina of Time in less than a year because Miyamoto challenged him (hence the fact that he had to reuse tons of the OoT assets); and some people, like me, ended up loving more this project of his than the original OoT.

Heck, some people prefer Picasso's take on Las Meninas over Vélazquez, despite reusing the same models and enviroments. Extrapolate it to this situation; why do you feel the need to downplay Majora for what it is? It is still a piece of art, just like OoT is. Same with the Picasso example. His take on Las Meninas is a different breed of art, but art still.

No one said anything about them being "ashamed" of it. What I said is it was a quick side project to tide people over while they worked on the next true Zelda, because they had all the assets from OoT together and could make the game quickly. That's why so much is directly recycled from OoT. I'm sure that's why they felt they had to add the time system and mask system, to make it feel different somehow. Otherwise the game would basically be OoT with 4 new dungeons. I just find it funny that people can like it better than OoT when so much of it is copied and pasted directly from that game. I fail to understand how MM has more "depth" to its mechanics either, unless you mean transforming. Keep in mind though, there are only 3 transformations. They could have done a lot more with that system, but again MM was just meant to be a side project for the core fans. They weren't gonna devote the same amount of dev time to it they have every other 3D Zelda.

I think that in the end MM is the Zelda game with the most wasted potential. Yes there are some really cool ideas and concepts, but they're not fleshed out enough and too many important things fell by the wayside. Again, this is almost certainly because of the short dev time and the game's status as a more of a side project when it was being made. I get why people would like the uniqueness the time and mask systems add. I just think more could have been done with a proper dev cycle. It's just like the game wasn't fully "realized" and this is painfully obvious in its weak dungeon lineup, limited size and scope, and recycled characters and items from OoT.

*kisses Skullwater on both cheecks*

I also think MM is the embodiment of perfection. An ambitious, more experimental game than it's predecessor that succeeded in a less grandiose and epic setting. It made more sense for a time traveler who happens to be passing by to help a couple get back together and unite a group of singing frogs, than for the hero of time to dick around with a few chickens to get a bottle.

This is coming from a person who played each Zelda except the original, WW and the CDI abominations.