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 of XI, XIII and XV tournaments, with Elisabeth Blanctorche leading the team in the two first entries mentioned and Isla in the fifteenth tournament.
His XIII win is considered given the canonical events of the game, with the team facing the final boss of the game ({Evil Ash}).
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 regular member of Team Hero. He appears as a member of the Team Rivals only in the Ash saga (in the XI entry, along with Elisabeth Blanctorche and Duo Lon).
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 New Age 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 street graffiti young female artist, a ressurected hermit/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) newcomer characters.
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, although the fighting styles are very similiar in some aspects, both are different in other: the normal version is based in offensive power and the awakened, in grappling power.
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 is the only with most members in the series, whether mainline or canonical.
With exception of Iori Yagami (who maintains his rivalry with the protagonist of the sagain which both debuted until the current days), all the other deuteragonists have built a friendship (or a peaceful relationship with the protagonist in the saga which they are inserted) after the end of the story arc.
The XI formation is mentioned by Elisabeth (leader of this entry and in the XIII formation) in her interview with Clemence Bellamy in The King of Fighters XV, when she demonstrates a desire to team up with the model Benimaru Nikaido and the ninja Duo Lon again.
