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) and Team Orochi (KOF '97) (rivals of Team Japan and Team Sacred Treasures, respectively; in KOF '95, this team rivals with the main protagonists of SNK's principal 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 Official Invitation (only in KOF XIV) and 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.

Temporary Formation

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

True Formation

 * 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 tournaments of XI and XIII, 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.
 * 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 remains unknown.
 * 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.