Team Rivals

Team Rivals, also known as Team Deuteragonist , is a reoccurring team in The King of Fighters series.

Description
This team is one of the most reoccuring main teams created and found in The King of Fighters series. As the name implies, the team is composed by characters who act as rivals or deuteragonists 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. According to the story of each game (or saga), this team has mainline or alternative versions (the alternative can sometimes be the true story of the game). After (and during) each saga, the teams receive the following nomenclatures:

Mainline Formations

 * Orochi Saga: Team Yagami (KOF '95 and  KOF '96) (rivals of Team Japan; in KOF '95, this team rivals with the main protagonists of SNK's principal game series);
 * 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) (true rivals of Team Shun'ei).

Alternative Formations

 * Orochi Saga: Team Orochi (KOF '97) (rivals of Team Sacred Treasures, the true Team Hero of this game);
 * Shun'ei Saga: Team Official Invitation (temporary rivals of Team Shun'ei).

KOF '95

 * Iori Yagami (Kyo's rival) - First Leader of Team Rivals and Leader in '95 until '98/UM.
 * Eiji Kisaragi (Ryo and Kyokungeryu's rival) - Member of Team Rivals in '95. Left the team in '96.
 * Billy Kane (Terry's second rival) - Member of Team Rivals in '95. Left the team in '96.

KOF '96

 * Mature - Member of Team Rivals in '96. Killed off and turned into undead after '96.
 * Vice - Member of Team Rivals in '96. Killed off and turned into undead after '96.

Normal Version (Team New Faces)

 * 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.

Awakened Version (Team Orochi)

 * 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).

KOF 2001

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

KOF 2003

 * Elisabeth Blanctorche (Ash's Rival) - Third Leader of Team Rivals and Leader in XI and XIII; she also appears as Leader of the Alternative Team Hero in XIII.
 * Duo Lon - Member of Team Rivals in XI and XIII; he also appears as Member of the Alternative Team Hero in XIII.
 * Benimaru Nikaido - Member of Team Rivals. Left the team in XIII.

KOF XIII

 * Shen Woo - Member of Team Rivals. Appears only in XIII; he also appears as Member of the Alternative Team Hero in this game.

KOF XIV

 * Sylvie Paula Paula - Fourth Leader of Team Rivals and Leader in XIV.
 * Kukri (Shun'ei's Temporary Rival) - Member of Team Rivals in XIV.
 * Mian - Member of Team Rivals in XIV.

KOF XV

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

Trivia

 * With exception of Billy Kane and Eiji Kisaragi (who debuts in the Fatal Fury series and Art of Fighting series, respectively), the other characters on this team are exclusively created for the KOF series.


 * This team won the tournaments of XI and XIII, with Elisabeth Blanctorche leading the team.
 * His XIII win is considered given the canonical events of the game, with the team facing the final boss of the game ({Evil Ash}).


 * 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.


 * Most of the protagonist's main rivals, the deuteragonist team are commonly debuted in their respective arc's second game.
 * However, Kukri, a member of Team Official Invitation, has some rivalry with Shun'ei (the main protagonist of the current story arc). Both debuted in the first game of the saga, The King of Fighters XIV. This happens prior to Isla's debut in The King of Fighters XV and fills the role.
 * In The King of Fighters '97, Team Orochi (Team New Faces in this game) acts as the rival team for Team Sacred Treasures (the true Team Hero in this game). However, unlike the main Team Rivals, Team Orochi is the only rival team who acts as an antagonist team, instead of a team led by a deuteragonist of the respective Saga.


 * Some members of this team, Iori (as Miss X) and Kukri are known for being the final bosses of respective all SNK crossover girls fighters' games: SNK Gals' Fighters and SNK Heroines Tag Team Frenzy, respectively. Beside, Miss X appears in SNK Heroines as a DLC character (in both genders).


 * 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 (and in the XI game).
 * 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.


 * The Shun'ei Saga currently has two different iterations of the Team Rivals. The first iteration (temporary) is formed only by Antonov's guests (KOF XIV Sub-Boss), and the second iteration (official) is formed by an orphan girl, a ressurected medium and a militar master.
 * This team also has two diferent iterations sponsored by the tournament organizers: Team NESTS (formed by the cartel's operatives) and Team Official Invitation (formed by Antonov, sub-boss and organizer of the 14th tournament.


 * With exception of the NESTS Saga and the alternative formations, the mainline formations of this team are always composed by one (or two) veterans and one (and two) newcomers.


 * This is the only team which some of his members (if counting the alternative formations) are in the state of resurrected or undead.


 * With exception of Iori Yagami, all the other deuteragonists leaders have her powers under control.
 * Yashiro Nanakase, an alternative deuteragonist leader, has two versions of his power: a normal and an awakened version, due to being an Hakkesshu member. However, his teammates, Shermie and Chris, also are Hakkesshu, but, unlike him, both have their awakened mode different from the normal versions.


 * Iori and Yashiro are the only male deuteragonists leaders of the Rivals Team, and only during the Orochi Saga. Starting from the NESTS Chronicles until now, all the other leaders of the team are female.
 * Kukri is other male member of this team, but isn't the leader of the formation which he is part.


 * This team, Team Yagami, Team Masters, Team Ikari Warriors, Team K', Team NESTS, Team Kim, Team Ikari Warriors, Team Agents and Team Isla are the only teams of the series which one or more members have unknown nationality.


 * This team, Team Fatal Fury, Team Yagami, Team Outlaw, Team Art of Fighting, Team Hero, Team South America, Team Ikari Warriors, Team Japan, Team Kyo, Team Sacred Treasures, Team K', Team Benimaru, Team Asian Triple Alliance, Team Agents, Team Ash, Team Elisabeth, Team Shun'ei, Team Mexico, Team G.A.W. and Team East Asia are the only teams of the series which one or more members win a KOF tournament.


 * This team, Team Hero, Team East Asia, Team China, Team Mexico, Team Women Fighters, Team South America and Team Wrestling are the only of the series with greater formation changes.


 * This team, Team Women Fighters, Team Fatal Fury, Team Hero, Team Art of Fighting, Team Japan, Team East Asia, Team China, Team Kim, Team Kyo, Team Mexico, Team Athena, Team NESTS, Team Outlaw, Team South America and Team Wrestling are the only of the series with a some/greater number of team variants.
 * All the variants of this team are canonical.