i am in need of a footprints example for an overhead shooter. i need it to be for a four direction example (up, down, left, and right). if anyone has an example, please post a url, or email me at bomberjake@yahoo.ca.

That's easy!
Just have four images an a sprite of the footprints going in the directions and asign them to objects.
In the any key function add 1 to a variable.
In the step ask if the variable is 20 or so and then ask the direction and then create the according object.
And don't forget to set the variable back to 0 once the object is created.