Team Rivals

The Team Rivals (チームライバル, Chīmu Raibaru), also called Rivals Team in early English translations, is a reoccurring team in The King of Fighters series.

Description
The 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. 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) and Team Orochi (KOF '97);
 * NESTS Chronicles: Team NESTS;
 * Tales of Ash: Team Elisabeth;
 * Shun'ei Saga: Team Official Invitation.

Members

 * -|Orochi Saga=
 * Iori Yagami - Leader of Rivals Team in '95 - '98/UM.
 * Eiji Kisaragi - Member of Rivals Team in '95. Left the team in '96.
 * Billy Kane - 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.
 * Yashiro Nanakase - Leader of Team Orochi (A.K.A. Team New Faces). Appears only in '97 (and in Dream Match games), and returned in XV.
 * Shermie - Member of Team Orochi (A.K.A. Team New Faces). Appears only in '97 (and in Dream Match games), and returned in XV.
 * Chris - Member of Team Orochi (A.K.A. Team New Faces). Appears only in '97 (and in Dream Match games), and returned in XV.
 * Orochi Yashiro - Leader of the team. His nickname is Parched Earth. Appears only in '97 (and in Dream Match games).
 * Orochi Shermie - Member of the team. Her nickname is Insanely Violent Lightning. Appears only in '97 (and in Dream Match games).
 * Orochi Chris - Member of the team. His nickname is Flames of Destiny. Appears only in '97 (and in Dream Match games).
 * -|NESTS Chronicles=
 * Kula Diamond - 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 - 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=
 * Sylvie Paula Paula - Fourth Leader of Rivals Team in XIV.
 * Kukri - Member of Rivals Team in XIV.
 * Mian - Member of Rivals Team in XIV.

Trivia

 * This team won the tournaments of XI and XIII, with Elisabeth leading the team.
 * Most of the members' secondary main rivals are commonly debuted in their respective arc’s second game. However, XIV breaks the trend, with the character Kukri.
 * Some members of this team, Iori (as Miss X) and Kukri are known for being the final bosses of respective all girls SNK crossover games: SNK Gals' Fighters and SNK Heroines Tag Team Frenzy.
 * In 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.