[Tharthan]

To be frank I have long given up hope that I will ever find this game again, as I have come to the conclusion that it must have been a rare homebrew game of some sort, because even its cover art looked like a slightly modified Final Fantasy Mystic Quest cover art.

People have suggested and found VERY similar games, but no one has ever found the precise game that I remember.
 
Anyways...

When one started the game, the had a huge character select screen. The screen's design was like a super giant version of the GBC game Heroes of Might & Magic 2's campaign mode character select screen. Again, though, unlike HoMM2, the character select screen in the game that I remember had at least a hundred or so characters, I'd reckon.

Out of the hundreds of characters, the player could pick four.

Once they were picked, the game revealed itself to be a Doom-perspective style dungeon crawler with a Doom-like health bar system. When one of the player's character got attacked enough, they would eventually turn into a skeleton. When all four of the player's characters had their profile shots turned into skulls, the game brought up a game over screen with creepy music (IIRC)  and some text that said something along the lines of "Your friends have passed onto another plane" in a creepy font. I couldn't read at the time that I played the game, so I had to ask my mother to read it to me, hence why I can't remember what it said well.

Anyways, when walking about the dungeon, I strongly remember that the first or second floor had a gnome or dwarf that the player could throw a (magical) cloth on to stop them in their tracks. In fact, if I recall correctly, when the cloth was dropped upon the dwarf it seemed to have... magically made the dwarf disappear, because I think (though don't quote me on this) the player could pick the cloth up again without any negative consequences.

Also, the game was for the SNES.

... ... ...

That's all that I really remember about the game, because I only played it once or twice. I was very young when I played it, and I was scared out of my wits by it for whatever reason (now that I think back to it the thing that might have scared me the most was the skull thing.

I went with my father to Funcoland and traded it in. That was the last I ever saw it.

I strongly regret that decision now, as I would have loved to play the game now.

...

Anyways, from the research that I have done, no officially licensed SNES game meets my description. As such, I strongly suspect that it was some sort of bootleg or homebrew game.

There is also the possibility that it might have been a homebrew port of some game that was officially released on other consoles.

[M-Tee]

If it's not one of the very few games that comes up from a search for "first-person dungeon crawler snes," then likely your memory is skewed by time and nostalgia.

Considering you were at an age of pre-literacy, this is highly likely and easily explainable.

[Tharthan]

If it's not one of the very few games that comes up from a search for "first-person dungeon crawler snes," then likely your memory is skewed by time and nostalgia.

Considering you were at an age of pre-literacy, this is highly likely and easily explainable.

Everything that I have said has been backed up by other members of my family who were older than me at the time.

And, I'm telling you, I've tried to play other games that sound similar but I know that they aren't the same.

Some of the things that I said might be a little off, but the vast majority of what I just described to you needs to be met by a potential game that it might be, otherwise it is not the same game.

I don't know what else to say.

But, like I said before, it might have been some obscure homebrew title. The fact that the cartridge art looked like Final Fantasy Mystic Quest's cartridge art further makes that seem likely.

[Jorpho]

Not Dungeon Master?

Perhaps you could list all the games that you are already certain this isn't, lest we waste our time suggesting things you've already eliminated?

[tryphon]

Arcana ?

[SCD]

Was it Drakkhen or Eye of the Beholder?

[Avster]

Was it Drakkhen or Eye of the Beholder?

I'm sure that it's Eye of the Beholder, which came to mind the very instant that I read the original post. It's on my list of games that I played a lot but never beat.

[M-Tee]

The concept of it being "an obscure homebrew" is absurd, which is why no one has acknowledged that possibility. The closest thing to that is the unlicensed Super Noah's Ark.

Likely, you're combining elements of multiple games in your memory.

Instead of expecting people to Google in your stead, how about, you pull up a list of the first person dungeon crawlers (There's probably less than 10 of them). Address them one-by-one in a post."Eye of the Beholder is not it because..." "Isles of Terra is not it because..." etc.

[SunGodPortal]

This list would probably be the best place to start:

http://www.gamefaqs.com/snes/list-72

Most of the games listed should have screenshots.

[Disch]

I'm sure that it's Eye of the Beholder

+1 To this.

I just played Eye of the Beholder again to be sure and it matches the OP description to a T.

[Tharthan]

Not Dungeon Master. I could tell that from the get-go on playing it.

The bottom part of the screen in Drakkhen is fairly similar to that of the game that I remember, but the facial portraits were smaller, like Doom's, only encompassing the head.

But the game itself was definitely not Drakkhen.

Out of all of the games that have been suggested, Eye of the Beholder is the closest. But I know for a fact, without a doubt in my mind, that it is not the game that I am looking for.

There was no character creation system in the game that I played. There was a huge character select screen. I know that for a fact. Hence why I compared it to the character select screen system of another game that did something similar to it.

The first dungeon area is nothing like the first dungeon area in the game that I remember.

The character images and GUI are on the right of the screen, and (like the issue with Drakkhen) they are too big.

Arcana ?

???

What's that?

The concept of it being "an obscure homebrew" is absurd, which is why no one has acknowledged that possibility. The closest thing to that is the unlicensed Super Noah's Ark.

That's of what we know of.

Likely, you're combining elements of multiple games in your memory.

That's actually very unlikely, if not impossible. The game that I played was the only dungeon crawler, and the only RPG I had for my SNES as a child.

Furthermore, my father, who watched me play games as a kid and has a much keener memory of that time period than I do, confirms most of what I said, including where the character facial portraits were, how they functioned, and what the game over screen looked like.

Instead of expecting people to Google in your stead

(Sorry but I had to.)

Well I don't use any Google services, for one.

The other thing too is that, long before I asked this question here, I have looked painstakingly through Wikipedia's list of SNES games trying to find the game in question, even playing parts of the games that I have just played once more here, just to rule certain games out.

The reason I have come to the conclusion that I have is because, no matter how hard I try, even with family help, I simply cannot find the blasted game.

And my thought is: why would a licensed game like the one that I described allude my attention for so long?

It doesn't make sense. It doesn't make sense at all.

And that is what has frustrated me for all of these years.

This list would probably be the best place to start:

http://www.gamefaqs.com/snes/list-72

Most of the games listed should have screenshots.

I will check this out later. I have actually just barely awoken (I woke up after 14:00, it is now 15:00).

Thank you for the list!

[Avster]

???

What's that?

Search the Internet for "Arcana", using the search engine of your choice.

Well I don't use any Google services, for one.

It appears that you are Trolling.

[Disch]

It appears that you are Trolling.

He's not.  He boycotts them because they made him sign up for a G+ account to have a YouTube profile.

[Isao Kronos]

then just use duck duck go like a hipster

[Tharthan]

Search the Internet for "Arcana", using the search engine of your choice.

I meant that "arcana" is a general term in Role-Playing terminology, so it's a tad hard to know what you mean here.

Do you mean this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arcana_%28video_game%29 ?

If so then I shall try it out in a bit.

He's not.  He boycotts them because they made him sign up for a G+ account to have a YouTube profile.

Well, technically, they never made me do anything of the sort, as I took the option of discontinuing usage of their services. I later deleted my YouTube account so that people who did watch my stuff would need to watch it on Dailymotion and Vimeo (where, mind you, I get plenty of daily views. So don't worry about it). I did forewarn them, though, as there had been a message redirecting my subscribers there since November of 2013 in my "About" section.

then just use duck duck go like a hipster

I already do. There is nothing hipsterish about it.

It is meant to compete with Google, but has completely different ideals in mind. My own thoughts on what a search engine should do fall more in line with what DuckDuckGo strives for.

What you're doing would be like this:

(warp back to the '90s)

MAN1: Hey fellas. (blah blah blah)

MAN2: Look it up on Yahoo.

MAN1: I don't use Yahoo.

MAN3: Then use Google like a hipster.

[BlackDog61]

Bloodwych was fairly similar in gameplay toeye of the beholder, but with split screen, so smaller icons.
Even if it doesn't fitthe bill, have a look at it.

[tryphon]

Yes, I meant Arcana the SNES videogame. This obscure title popped into my mind when I read your post, don't know why (never played it)

[Tharthan]

Bloodwych was fairly similar in gameplay toeye of the beholder, but with split screen, so smaller icons.
Even if it doesn't fitthe bill, have a look at it.

Sure thing!

Also, that's the other thing fellas, even if the game isn't for the SNES, if it better meets my descriptions than any SNES game does, do let me know (for reasons that I have aformentioned).

Yes, I meant Arcana the SNES videogame. This obscure title popped into my mind when I read your post, don't know why (never played it)

Then I shall check it out!

[Avster]

He's not.  He boycotts them because they made him sign up for a G+ account to have a YouTube profile.

It's dumb that they force the world to sign up for their utterly useless social network, but it's not a good enough reason to abandon their services. Regardless, I imagine that by striving to avoid everything Google, you are simply wasting time.

Time is more valuable than this battle of minor principles.

[Tharthan]

It's dumb that they force the world to sign up for their utterly useless social network

This we agree on.

but it's not a good enough reason to abandon their services

How so?

I already was growing fed up with their policies as it was, that was but the straw that broke the camel's back.

Also, I prefer the services that I use now, so I am happy that I have made the switch.

Time is more valuable than this battle of minor principles.

I will not aid an unprincipled company when I don't have to. If one has a lax attitude about everything, then everyone will take a mile when one gives them an inch.

One must put one's foot down at times.