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. 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  '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).

Mainline Formations

 * 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.
 * 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

 * 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

 * 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 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.
 * Angel - Member of Team Rivals in 2001 and 2002 UM. Left the team after 2001.

Tales of Ash

 * 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 both games.
 * Duo Lon - Member of Team Rivals in XI and XIII; he also appears as Member of the Alternative Team Hero in both games.
 * Benimaru Nikaido - Member of Team Rivals. Left the team in XIII.
 * Shen Woo - Member of Team Rivals. Appears only in XIII; he also appears as Member of the Alternative Team Hero in this game.

Temporary Formation

 * 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.

True Formation

 * 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

 * This team won the tournaments of XI and XIII, with Elisabeth Blanctorche 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.
 * 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.
 * 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 is formed only by Antonov's guests (KOF XIV Sub-Boss), and the second iteration is formed by two girls 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.