Team Rivals

Team Rivals, is a reoccurring team in The King of Fighters series.

Description
Team Rivals is one of the many teams found in The King of Fighters. As the name implies, this team is created to act as rivals of the Hero Team, or against a specific character and/or team. The team is composed, in the most part, of characters who are important to some arc story or the game series. After (and during) each saga, the teams receive the following nomenclatures:
 * Orochi Saga: Team Yagami (KOF '95 and  '96);
 * NESTS Chronicles: Team NESTS (only in KOF 2001) (rivals of Team K');
 * Tales of Ash: Team Elisabeth (only in KOF XI and KOF XIII) (rivals of Team Ash, only in XI);
 * Shun'ei Saga: Team Isla (only in KOF XV) (rivals of Team Shun'ei).

Mainline Formations

 * Iori Yagami (Kyo's rival) - Leader of Rivals Team in '95 until '98/UM.
 * Eiji Kisaragi (Ryo and Kyokungeryu's rival) - Member of Rivals Team in '95. Left the team in '96.
 * Billy Kane (Terry's second rival) - Member of Rivals Team in '95. Left the team in '96.
 * Mature - Member of Rivals Team in '96. Killed off and turned into undead after '96.
 * Vice - Member of Rivals Team in '96. Killed off and turned into undead after '96.

Alternative (and True) Formations

 * Yashiro Nanakase - Leader of Team Orochi/'97 Rivals (A.K.A. Team New Faces). Appears only in '97 (and in Dream Match games), and returned in XV.
 * Shermie - Member of Team OrochiTeam Orochi/'97 Rivals (A.K.A. Team New Faces). Appears only in '97 (and in Dream Match games), and returned in XV.
 * Chris - Member of Team OrochiTeam Orochi/'97 Rivals (A.K.A. Team New Faces). Appears only in '97 (and in Dream Match games), and returned in XV.
 * Orochi Yashiro - Leader of Team Awakened Orochi/'97 Rivals. His nickname is Parched Earth. Appears only in '97 (and in Dream Match games).
 * Orochi Shermie - Member of Team Awakened Orochi/'97 Rivals. Her nickname is Insanely Violent Lightning. Appears only in '97 (and in Dream Match games).
 * Orochi Chris - Member of Team Awakened Orochi/'97 Rivals. His nickname is Flames of Destiny. Appears only in '97 (and in Dream Match games).

NESTS Chronicles

 * Kula Diamond (K's Rival) - Second Leader of Rivals Team in 2001 and 2002/UM.
 * Foxy - Member of Rivals Team in 2001 and 2002 UM.
 * K9999 - Member of Rivals Team in 2001 and 2002 (excluding UM update). Left the team after 2001.
 * Angel - Member of Rivals Team in 2001 and 2002 UM. Left the team after 2001.

Tales of Ash

 * Elisabeth Blanctorche (Ash's Rival) - Third Leader of Rivals Team in XI and XIII.
 * Duo Lon - Member of Rivals Team in XI and XIII.
 * Benimaru Nikaido - Member of Rivals Team. Left the team in XIII.
 * Shen Woo - Member of Rivals Team. Appears only in XIII.

Shun'ei Saga

 * Isla (Shun'ei's Official Rival) - Fifth Leader of Rivals Team and Leader in XV.
 * Dolores - Member of Rivals Team in XV.
 * Heidern - Member of Rivals Team in XV.

Trivia

 * This team won the XIII tournament, with Elisabeth leading the team.
 * Due to copyright issues, K9999 has been removed from Team NESTS (Team Rivals in that saga) in The King of Fighters 2002 Unlimited Match. However, he appears only in the original version of the game and in KOF 2001, both produced by Eolith.
 * His substitute, Nameless, appears as a single entry fighter in this game.
 * All protagonist's main rivals, the deuteragonist team are commonly debuted in their respective arc's second game.
 * In KOF XIII, Team Elisabeth can be sometimes count as Tales of Ash's last Team Hero at a same time, due to Ash's purpose to go solo and his supposed villainous role, and Elisabeth being the last true main protagonist of the saga.
 * Benimaru Nikaido also appears as a member of Team Hero. He appears as a member of the Team Rivals only in the Ash saga.
 * Additionally, he and Heidern are the only veteran fighters to be in Team Rivals in some later game, due to both being initial characters from the first KOF game, The King of Fighters '94.
 * With exception of the NESTS Saga and the alternative formations, the formations of this team are always composed by one (or two) veterans and one (and two) newcomers.